Four Fitness (and Life Lessons) from the Wizard of Westwood
Some of the biggest paradigm-shifting lessons to restore your personal power… pursue greater excellence… and performing at your absolute best.
Issue No. 59 November 2024
On a bright, sunny day in the middle of September, Amanda and I took one train, one bus and four cable cars up to almost 10,000 feet to the top of the Schilthorn in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
We stood outside the world-famous rotating restaurant, Piz Gloria, where the James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed. It was an awe-inspiring view of the iconic Swiss peaks: the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.
And there were even more Alps in the distance (apparently if it’s clear enough you can even see the highest peak in Europe, Mt. Blanc, which is in France!)
Incredible views like this have an inspirational power that’s hard to put to words.
Whether it’s staring off into the snow-covered mountains… the green rolling hills… or into the vast ocean - these natural landscapes have a way of enriching our appreciation, expanding our thinking and putting things in perspective.
Few things outside of nature have this power. In my experience, the only thing that comes even remotely close is when we are hit with profound wisdom. It has a way of giving us blue sky clarity that puts so much of life in perspective and often simplifies the complex.
Each time I visit the words of the “Wizard of Westwood” I have this enlightening experience. If you don’t know John Wooden, he is one of the most influential minds in all of sports and possibly in coaching in general.
His teachings are a breath of fresh mountain air and give us a glimpse into the path of excellence – whether in sports or fitness or life.
His principles led him to becoming one of the greatest coaches of all-time… 10 national championships… and more importantly, helped shape generations of lives through his leadership.
This month, I handpicked four of his greatest paradigm-shifting lessons because they can literally help you restore your personal power… pursue greater excellence… and the peace of mind that comes with performing at your absolute best.
This hardly skims the surface of John Wooden’s philosophy so if you enjoy this ‘taste’ I highly recommend picking up one of his books. There is a reason he is considered one of the greatest coaching and leadership minds – even decades after his retirement from coaching.
Let’s get to it,
#1: Rewrite Your Definition of Success
What does it take to be successful?
Over the years Wooden thought long and hard on this question. Whether in fitness or in their professional life, most people have a tall mountain of accomplishments to climb before they feel they’ve “made it.”
In fitness, it might be weigh 120 pounds… have 10% body fat… be able to run a marathon … while having a six-pack.
Because of this their rules make it very hard to win. In 1934, Wooden penned one of the simplest and best definitions of success I’ve ever seen.
“Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
While it seems simple, this definition (when taken to heart) causes three big shifts in thinking:
1. External to Internal
“Self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best”. It’s not someone else recognizing you did your best… someone else praising your efforts… or showering you in compliments. There’s nothing wrong with these external rewards but here’s the challenge with them: they are typically infrequent, unpredictable and outside of our control. Success is self-satisfaction and only you can award yourself this type of reward. You have to earn it and give yourself permission that you deserve it.
2. Result to Process
Many people also have a destination mindset when it comes to success. Meaning: They can’t be successful until they reached their goal. Until they reach a certain weight on the scale. Wooden turns this around and says you are successful anytime you do your best in becoming more capable. Meaning: doing your best working the process.
In fitness this could be:
Anytime you push yourself while lifting weights.
Anytime you make the effort to go for a walk in the morning.
Anytime you take the time to meal prep.
This takes real self-honesty though, which can be painful, embarrassing and gets tricky when we are stuck in a pattern of self-delusion.
Some people say, “I tried my best” but if they were honest, they didn’t at all. They tried what they are used to. They tried what they always try. They played at a standard they are used to. Only you know when you gave a valiant effort (and have the peace of mind that comes from it).
Actor, director and Men’s Health’s 100 Fittest Men of All Time Joe Manganiello has a great quote on this:
“Every time I failed, I learned that it was because I did not fight as hard as humanly possible. Notice I didn’t say “fight my hardest.” There are a lot of people who try as hard as they can. But their ceilings and limitations are perceived barriers that restrict what they achieve.”
3. Outputs to Inputs
This is very similar to result vs. process. Many people are focused on the outputs: what they are going to get. Instead Wooden’s definition shifts us to the inputs: what we put into it. One is the by-product of success; the other is the source of success.
According to Wooden, any accolades, wins, that come from that are, “all by-products of success rather than success itself”
The awards, results, and accolades don’t make you a success.
I’d argue the same with fitness: the weight-loss… the stamina… the muscle-building… the physical strength gained… they are all by-products of success. They are not success themselves. That success comes from knowing you gave it your best - knowing you put in the work. And that victory is yours for the taking each and every day.
One more thought:
What do internal… process… and inputs all have in common?
They are in our control.
That means Wooden’s definition allows you to win the game frequently.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say someone has the goal of losing 100 pounds, doing a pull-up and weighing 135. Nothing wrong with ambitious goals like this.
But how long will it take to be successful?
For many people at least a year, probably several.
Most people have an unconscious rule that they are not successful until they reach their goal. So they will withhold any sense of progress or celebration (except possibly at every 10 pound milestone).
What if you could feel successful each day while you move towards that goal? What if you could ‘ring that bell’ called success every time you took action?
#2: Intense Focus on What You Can Control
In 1996-1997 the dunk was banned from college basketball.
This was a challenge for Wooden’s star player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was a master of the dunk and dominated with it. In fact, Kareem believed the rule change was directed at him. Whatever the case, Wooden had a sit down with Kareem (real name Lewis Alcindor Jr.) and told him:
“Lewis, this will make you a better player. You’ll have to work harder developing your hook shot, the little short shots off the boards, and the shots around the basket. There is no way this will do anything but make you a much better ballplayer.”
Kareem nodded and could start to see his point.
Wooden added, “Lewis, remember, when you get to the pros, you won’t have forgotten how to dunk.”
He was right. When Kareem was drafted in the NBA, he became notorious for his hook shot, which he never would have mastered if it wasn’t for the dunk getting banned in college.
Wooden applied this same philosophy when dealing with opposing teams.
Whereas some teams would study and analyze the opponent for days leading up to a game, Wooden spent little time on the other team. He would simply read the newspaper… look up the head coach… and what their style of play was but he didn’t concern himself with the rest:
“I felt we were better off letting our opponents try to figure us out than spending time trying to figure them out. We focused on preparing for any eventuality rather than a particular style of play from a particular team… Perhaps we gained an advantage by having so much confidence in our own ability to play near our potential (because of our detailed and disciplined preparation) that it kept us from becoming fearful of another team.”
In essence, they focused on what they could control: their preparation. Not the other team’s preparation.
“If you get caught up in things over which you have no control it will adversely affect those things over which you have control.”
What challenge are you facing that could potentially make you better?
How much time have you spent focused on what others are doing?
Here’s another Wooden concept that slam-dunks this into perspective…
#3: Build The Best Ford You Can
One of the biggest motivation traps is the comparison game.
And today with social media, it’s never been easier to play it at blinding speeds. Think about it: In just a few minutes of scrolling you can erase any ounce of feeling good about your fitness progress by seeing a before-and-after photo of someone who dropped half their bodyweight… finished a marathon… and saved a kitty from a tree on the same day!
Even decades before social media, Wooden recognized the danger in comparing to others and offered this sage advice to put it into perspective:
“Let’s say I want to build a car – maybe a Ford or a Chevrolet or a Plymouth. I want to build it the best I can possibly build it. Will it be better than a Cadillac or a Mercedes? That’s irrelevant. If I’m building a Ford, I simply want to build the very best Ford I can build. That’s all I can do: to come close to my level of competency, not somebody else’s. I have nothing to do with theirs, only mine… My concern, my focus, my total effort should be on building the very best Ford I can build.”
This works both ways too.
Sometimes the comparison game makes us feel successful, when in reality we’re not. Deep down we know that we haven’t given our best, we’ve simply done enough to outperform another person (or we haven’t done a thing it’s just someone else made a bigger mess). Other times, our comparison makes us feel unsuccessful – even though we actually did give our best and are successful in our own right (go back to #1).
One way to escape the comparison game is to take your total focus and effort to build the very best ‘Ford’ you can build.
In the world of fitness this means honor your starting point.
Whether you have been pumping iron at the local gym for years… doing sporadic yoga classes… walking the dog around the neighborhood… or have been laid up by a long injury - honor where you are at, build off of it and decide:
Where do I want to go next?
It doesn’t matter if someone else is building more muscle… losing more body fat… or dropping inches quicker than you. Don’t disperse and waste your energy on their journey. Focus all your power on your journey and how you can pour more into your workouts to take your athleticism to the next level.
How has the comparison game hurt you in the past?
What’s the honest truth about your starting point?
#4: Two Cornerstones of Success
When John Wooden was a sophomore in high school, his math teacher Mr. Shidler left an undeniable impact on his psyche.
Whereas most people have foggy (or painful) memories of high school math class, Mr. Shidler was different and often gave thought-provoking assignments beyond just math. One was an assignment to write a paper defining success.
This particular assignment awakened something inside Wooden and even after graduating; he continually explored this idea over the following decades, which eventually turned into his ‘Pyramid of Success”. This is a model of all the qualities he believed were necessary for success.
While I’d love to look at each of the 15 qualities (and I highly recommend you do), here are two cornerstones of his pyramid model that are foundational for next level health and fitness.
1. Industriousness
Wooden picked each ‘stone’ of his pyramid carefully and the meaning of the words matter a lot. For him, industriousness is more than simply doing the work or working hard:
“I call it industriousness to make very clear it involves more than merely showing up and going through the motions. Many people who tell you they worked all day weren’t really working very hard at all, certainly not to the fullest extent of their abilities. Industriousness is the most conscientious, assiduous, and inspired type of work. A willingness to, an appetite for, hard work must be present for success. Without it you have nothing to build on.”
Key phrase: an appetite for hard work.
In my experience, this is an acquired taste that happens when you push yourself a little bit beyond the norm and show yourself what you can do. This self-satisfaction grows as you start to see your physical capacity expand a little bit more each time. You start to handle bigger weights… more reps… and catch your breath quicker between exercises.
But this does not mean working yourself into the ground. Or going to failure every single workout so you struggle to walk for the next several days. Anyone can do that. It takes discipline to push your limits and restrain yourself from going overboard (only you know where you tend to lean on this spectrum).
This is about challenging yourself to ‘push the edge of your abilities’ and bettering your best on a consistent basis - even though sometimes you won’t be able to.
When I got back from Switzerland, I hadn’t strength trained in two weeks. So it was a little rocky getting back into workouts again. I hadn’t lost much strength or stamina but I had to ‘regroup’ physically for a week or two before I could break personal records again. And for me it took several weeks for my grip strength to get caught up to pre-vacation levels. So even though it wasn’t a personal record, I gave it the best effort and that’s what mattered above all else.
2. Enthusiasm
“Enthusiasm ignites plain old work and transforms it into industriousness.” – John Wooden
When I think back to some of the toughest workouts, one thing that helped psychologically get through was enthusiasm. In a group this is easier because there is a sense that we’re in this together. This can be a little more challenging when it’s just you and the rusty dumbbells in your basement. But it’s truly a psychological muscle that gets stronger when you work it.
“Regardless of whether you’re leading as a teacher, coach, parent, or businessperson, or you’re a member of a leadership team, you must have enthusiasm. Without it you cannot be industrious to the full level of your ability. With it you stimulate others to higher and higher levels of achievement.”
Some people will read this and think, Yeah, yeah I should be enthusiastic about exercise. The shift in thinking is to stop waiting for this powerful emotional state to hit you and start realizing it is a choice. We choose to be enthusiastic despite the circumstances.
The other day, I was caught in a torrential downpour with a client as we were walking back from the park. We were ½ mile from shelter when the storm hit and we were both soaked within minutes. It was not fun being sopping wet as we stood at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change but I thought:
How can I have fun with this?
We started chatting about video games and virtual reality and the rain faded into the background. It was not easy but it was a conscious choice. And the more you make that choice, the more creative you can get with finding the joy within any challenge.
This becomes invaluable during the tough times – especially when you are discouraged. And that’s where Olympic pole-vaulting champion Bob Richards has gold-medal advice on this:
“It isn’t the point where you are that matters, it’s the direction in which you are heading. So long as you are going up, even if it is just a quarter of an inch or a tenth of a second, your enthusiasm need not wane.”
Onward (and upward),
Kelan Ern
P.S. If you enjoyed this monthly issue of Mind-Body Breakthroughs, and would like to receive the next one (along with additional fitness articles) to help support you on your fitness journey and the path of lasting athleticism, join below: