Recently, I found this video of a talk done back in 2001 at the TED Convention by John Wooden, a former coach for UCLA. The topic of his speech is Defining True Success. In this 17 minute video, Mr. Wooden gives wisdom that is timeless and can be applied to any facet of life including, finding success financially, in a career, as a spouse, as a parent, etc.
Since we talk about personal finance here, I’ll take a few quotes of his quotes and relate them to personal finance. Check this out:
“My own definition of success: peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable. If you make the effort to the best of which you’re capable, try and improve the situation that exists for you – That’s Success. “
Succeeding at managing money is all about achievement on a personal level. Not everyone is going to be able to attain multi-millionaire status. Not everyone is going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. But with effort each person can achieve their personal best financially without being compared to others.
“I came up with a pyramid eventually …And right at the top - “faith and patience”. Whatever you are doing, you must be patient. You have to have patience. We sometimes think that change is progress, but forget that there is no progress without change. We must also believe, truly believe. Not just give it word service, but believe that things will work out as they should, PROVIDING we do what we should. I think our tendency is to hope that things will turn out the way we want them to, but we don’t do the things necessary to make those things become reality.”
I can definitely relate to this quote. As my husband and I were paying off what we felt was an enormous amount of debt, what kept us going was faith and patience. Faith that one day we would achieve our goal of debt freedom. And patience to do the daily monthly tasks required to continue on the lengthy journey and achieve the goal.
“Reminds me of another set of three’s that my dad tried to get across to us. Don’t whine. Don’t complain. Don’t make excuses. Just get out there, and whatever you are doing, do it to the best of your ability. Never mention winning. My idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game. And you can win when you are outscored. Just be able to hold your head up after a game. When the game is over and you see somebody that didn’t know the outcome, I hope they couldn’t tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.”
Sometimes we think that the grass is always greener on the other side so we whine, we complain and we make excuses about our present situations. But the reality is that we should be thankful in all things. Keep a smile at all times. I know it hard when times are tough, but in order to get to the mountaintop, you have to go through the valley. It’s just the cycle of life.
“Then I ran across this simple verse that said, “At God’s footstool to confess, a pour soul knelt and bowed his head. “I failed!” he cried. The Master said, “Thou didst thou best, that is success.”
This is my most favorite quote from the entire video. If you do your best, that is success. What else can I say?
There’s a lot more to be gleamed from this video, but I decided to give my most favorite parts. In the end, the talk is meant to inspire all of us to succeed on our own personal level. Not just going with the flow of life, but to put in some effort and try to do our own personal best.
If you haven’t already, take a moment to watch the video. You will definitely be inspired. Please share your views about the video in the comments.
| Successfully Yours, |
| Patrenia |
If you’ve never heard of TED, it’s a small non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading: Technology, Entertainment and Design. The annual conferences in Long Beach and Oxford bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). You may visit TED.com by clicking on this link.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great video! Thanks for sharing. The quotes you picked out are the same that stood out to me. I particularly liked this one “When the game is over and you see somebody that didn’t know the outcome, I hope they couldn’t tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.” That’s a powerful statement on keeping a positive outlook and enjoying the journey rather than the outcome.
It was so hard to choose because Mr. Wooden is a man full of great wisdom. I just may have to reconsider my favorite quote
. Thanks for the visit Eric!