John Robert Wooden, popularly known as Coach John Wooden, was one of the most revered American basketball coaches. Formerly a national basketball player and a six-time winner of national coach of the year title, John Wooden was the first player to be named a three-time All-American (consensus choice).

Dubbed as the “Wizard of Westwood”, the legendary coach never talked about winning with his teams. Instead, he talked about preparation and the ingredients that are essential to become a great team.

Coach Wooden is renowned for his “Pyramid of Success”, in which he summed up his philosophy of coaching and life. The pyramid comprises of 15 building blocks of success. Here, we present an overview of this timeless pyramid and its constituents.

The Pyramid of Success starts with a strong foundation and moves up to five levels, at the peak of which is Success. According to Coach Wooden, what we meet in the way are not the goals, but rather the building blocks to success.

The foundation of success

At the bottom of the pyramid are five building blocks, the cornerstones of which are “Industriousness” and “Enthusiasm”.  With industriousness, Coach Wooden  emphasizes  that there is no substitute for hard work.

On the right side of the base is the Enthusiasm to work. A person should love his/her work. Lack of enthusiasm means you would not be able to work to your fullest ability and are just going through the motions. If your heart is not into your work, you would not reach the level of competitive greatness that you ought to seek in life, business or basketball. John Wooden says, “You must have Enthusiasm especially if you’re a leader or wish to become a leader.”

The remaining three components of the foundation are Friendship, Loyalty, and Cooperation.

The heart of success

At the heart of the “Pyramid of Success” is Skill. It is important for people to know what they are doing.  What to do, how to do it and when to do it. While the coach stresses on experience, he adds that without the right skills an experienced player and attorney would do bad play and bad law.

This is the third level of the Pyramid and includes Condition and Team Spirit as its cornerstones. By condition, Coach Wooden means physical, moral, and mental condition. Without the right mental and moral condition, you cannot get a proper physical condition. For that, you should practice moderation and balance in all aspects of your life.

Higher up in the chain are Poise and Confidence. Poise is defined as “”being true to oneself, not getting rattled, thrown off, unbalanced regardless of the circumstances or situation.” Coach Wooden defines confidence as “self-belief: the knowledge that your preparation is complete, that you have done all things possible to ready yourself and your organization from the competition, whatever form it comes in.”

The peak of success

At the peak, on level five of the Pyramid is Competitive Greatness. Coach Wooden puts it down as “a real love for the hard battle, knowing it offers the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required.”

So, that in a nutshell is  the Pyramid of Success where Success is defined by John Wooden as “peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

For more details and to download a high-quality print version of the Pyramid, visit Coach Wooden’s official website .