Quotes From My Three Favorite Coaches

By: Emeroy Bernardo

I'm no basketball player or really have been, nor have I every been that great at sports. But what I know I am is a dancer and leader. A lot of demand is expected in being a leader and and even more to be a great one. There are so many elements that have to be considered from team chemistry, aesthetics, and the psychology of each person and the team as a whole.

When I first started leading, I was ruthless jerk that had nearly impossible expectations from my dancers. I had forgotten that I was working with people, not robots. Throughout the years I have evolved into what I am today, less temperamental and a bit more outspoken.

About a year ago, I decided to study up on some coaches and how they brought their team together from the ground up through both books and documentaries if there were any available. What I learned was truly inspirational and motivational, and helped me further developed my style of leading because of it.

Today one of the members had posted a quote on the Facebook group, which compelled me to share these quotes. I hope you guys enjoy the read.

Phil Jackson

• "Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.”

• “Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.”

• “Love is the force that ignites the spirit and binds teams together.”

• “Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.”

• “Approach the game with no preset agendas and you'll probably come away surprised at your overall efforts.”

• "Once you've done the mental work, there comes a point you have to throw yourself into the action and put your heart on the line. That means not only being brave, but being compassionate towards yourself, your teammates and your opponents."

• "Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing."

John Wooden

• "Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

• "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

• "Never mistake activity for achievement."

• "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

• "A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

• "I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

• "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

• "It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

• "The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

• "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

• "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

• “The best way to improve the team is to improve ourselves.”

• “Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.”

• “Time spent getting even would be better spent trying to get ahead.”

• “It is what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

• “There is nothing stronger than gentleness.”

• “Big things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.”

• “Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or lasting.”

• “Be most interested in finding the best way not in having your own way.”

• “What is right is more important than who is right.”

• “Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.”

• “Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress.”

• “If we’d magnified blessings as much as we magnified disappointments we would all be much happier.”

• “The worst thing that you can do for another person is the things they can and should do for themselves.“

• “Do not permit what you cannot do to interfere with what you can do.”

• “Love is the greatest of all words in our language.”

• “Much can be accomplished by teamwork when no one is concerned who gets credit.”

• “Never make excuses; your friends don’t need them and your foes won’t believe them.”

• “Make each day your masterpiece.”

• “Make friendship of fine art.”

• "Acquire peace of mind by making the effort to become the best of which you are capable."

• "Be quick, but don't rush."

Vince Lombardi

• “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”

• “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”

• “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

• “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”

• “The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.”

• “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”

• “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

• “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

• “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

• “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality --- the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.”

• “Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.”

• “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”

• “Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both.”

• “If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t belong here.”

• “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”

• “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.”

• “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”

• “Success demands singleness of purpose.

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