Help others reach the top

There’s room up there.

I’m a huge fan of John Wooden. In an interview with one of his star players from the 1960s, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar talked about what he thought made Wooden so brilliant.

As I mentioned earlier, preparation was everythingwith Coach Wooden and he taught us how to prepare for all the teamsthat would come at us. That level of preparation imbued us with enoughconfidence that we believed we could beat any team that came at us. But healso taught us that sports isn’t real life. In sports, there’s room at the top foronly one team, but in life there’s plenty of room for others and we shoulddo everything we can to help those others reach the top. That’s what madethe man so brilliant.

Kareem-Abdul Jabbar from Bruin Blue, Spring 2017

This is the part I got the most from:

“…in life there’s plenty of room for others and we should do everything we can to help those others reach the top.”

A rising tide lifts all boats.

Sure, you might say it’s easy for him to say because he’s already at the top. But I would argue that it is exactly that which makes it even more poignant that he says it because he doesn’t have to. He’s already there. He could look down on the rest of us and turn away.

But he doesn’t.

If you ever get a chance to read anything by John Wooden (or Kareem for that matter), take the time to do so.

Your “game” will be elevated.