The Pyramid of Success
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John Wooden
Coach Wooden site
The Pyramid |
The 25 Building Blocks of the
Pyramid of Success
Block 1: Industriousness
"In plain and simple English this means hard work. Very hard work. There is no substitute for very hard work when it comes to success."
When you're looking to achieve something it is important that you do your best and put your all into it. Nothing will help you through it like hard work will. When you work hard, you do everything that you can to succeed and more. You do the most. In some situations doing "the most" is bad but when you're doing the most to get to where you want, there can't be anything bad about it. So it is important to think about industriousness when doing something you want to accomplish.
Block 2: Enthusiasm
"It is the engine that powers all blocks of the Pyramid. It is why I chose Industriousness and Enthusiasm as the cornerstones of my Pyramid of Success. It is where everything begins."
Enthusiasm means being full of life and joyous. Being enthusiastic is a great character trait. It shows how happy of a person you are and people would want to be with you more. This may spark a light in them as well so they'll be just as enthusiastic as you.
Block 3: Friendship
"Comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. Like marriage it must not be taken for granted but requires a joint effort."
Friendship is very important in life. You do not need to have a lot of friends. You just need people who are there for you no matter what and will not turn their back on you. Friendship can be an easy thing to find and a hard thing to keep. You can make friends anywhere you go but it doesn't mean those friends are going to stay forever. It is better to be friends with people you are the most comfortable with and close with. Those are the ones worth keeping.
Block 4: Loyalty
"To yourself and to all those depending upon you. Keep your self-respect."
Being loyal to someone is sticking by someone and respecting them no matter what. Being loyal in a relationship means being committed. You cannot go off going and sneaking around with other people. That is being disloyal and it is wrong and disrespectful to your partner. That just shows how heartless of a person you are because you are putting your selfish acts first. Being loyal in a friendship means sticking by that persons side no matter what and not going behind their back. When you are friends with someone, it is important to show loyalty because without that, they won't trust you. Being loyal to everything else means to stay committed and not cheat your way through it.
Block 5: Cooperation
"With all levels of your co-workers. Listen if you want to be heard. Be interested in finding the best way, not in having you own way."
Cooperation is an important block in the pyramid to success. You cannot succeed if you do not cooperate with others. Yes, doing things on your own can sometimes be a lot easier and you can do things the way you want to but working with others is important. Cooperation not only teaches you good people skills but you learn how to do things differently. You start to learn new ways to do things and that may come in handy one day. There is more than one way to do things so cooperating with others will help you get things done faster.
Block 6: Ambition
For noble goals
Ambition means having a strong desire to do achieve something. When you're ambitious, you put your all into something. You set a goal for yourself and never give up. You do what you can to achieve your goal. You are determined to get to where you want to be.
Block 7: Self-Control
"Practice self-discipline and keep emotions under control. Good judgement and common sense are essential."
Self-control means being able to control yourself. When you're in a bad situation, you are able to control how you react or how you deal with it. Self-control is not only used in bad situations but in good situations it could be like you're extremely excited about something and you need to control how happy you are. Or another thing can be when you have a secret or have to surprise someone, you have to control yourself to not spill the beans or accidentally surprise the person before intended to.
Block 8: Alertness
"Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve."
Block 9: Initiative
"Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it."
Taking the initiative means doing something before others. If you want to succeed, you have to do things before others. Staying behind because you're afraid of being the first to do something is not going to help you succeed. You have to be ahead of your game and everyone else. How do you expect to be ahead if you wait for others?
Block 10: Intentness
"Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations. Be determined and persistent."
Intentness means being determined. When you're determined, you go for what you want or what you believe in. You don't allow others' remarks or comments or negativity affect you and stop you from achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. You do whatever you can do to achieve this things no matter how difficult or risky (maybe). There's so many ways you can achieve what you want. You just have to believe in yourself.
Block 11: Sincerity
"Keep friends"
Block 12: Adaptability
"To any situation"
Adaptability is being able to adjust to something new or new conditions. Being adaptable to a lot of things is a good way of helping you be successful. Being adaptable helps you adjust to new situations and these situations can be in a work place. The way it helps is if something changes drastically or they change a plan or something completely and you adapt to it right away, then the people in your workplace will make you in charge. Not everyone is able to adapt to things so quick and if you can, then they will rely on you.
Block 13: Condition
"Mental-Moral-Physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated."
Block 14: Skill
"A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail."
Block 15: Team Spirit
"A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all."
Team spirit means beings excited or in the moment while doing something. You're not being negative with the people you're working with and you look on the brighter side of things. You work well with others and do it with enthusiasm. Doing this will not only make everyone else around you enthusiastic but it'll improve the job because then everyone would be team spirited.
Block 16: Honesty
In thought and action
Honesty is the best quality. Being honest not only makes you a ctr person but it also shows people they can go to you when they need an honest opinion. Being honest is so much better than lying. What's the point of lying? It's not going to benefit you or the other person in any way. So it's better to tell the truth and be 100 with the person. Being honest will make you feel good about yourself and even if it's not a good thing to be honest about, it'll help the other person.
Block 17: Resourcefulness
Proper judgement
Resourcefulness is the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties. This means you're good at finding new ways of doings things right away. When you're resourceful, you're quick on your feet and never give up. You are quick to think and people will acknowledge you for that. People will come to you for help and not only will this make you feel good about being needed but other will find you important.
Block 18: Poise
"Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation." Graceful and elegant bearing in a person.
Poise means being graceful and elegant. When you're poise you're more mature and serious than others. This shows people that you're responsible and you can be trusted. Being poise is usually shown within girls. Girls are taught that they need to be poise because we need to be elegant and graceful. Growing up this can be a good thing because you are more kind hearted and understanding.
Block 19: Confidence
"Respect without fear. May come from being prepared and keeping all things in proper perspective."
Being confident is such an important aspect of life. Confidence is when you believe in yourself while doing anything. You believe you will do great and not fail. Confidence shows people that you believe in yourself and nothing anyone says can change that. You feel invincible and like nothing can ruin what you're doing or bring you down. Confidence is key. It lets people know they can be friends with you and not only will you be confident in yourself but in them too.
Block 20: Reliability
Creates respect
Being reliable creates trust and respect from others. When you're reliable, people know they can count on you to keep your word and do what you say you're going to do. I am a reliable person when it comes to answering family calls so I am the first to get called for anything. It's nice being a reliable person because people go to you and that makes you feel special. So this does create respect for you. Although, being reliable may cause a lot of stress on you because they count on you the most, it is good to be reliable and trustworthy.
Block 21: Fight
Determined effort
To fight means to do your best and do better. You have to fight for what you want because nothing is going to come easy to you. You have to do your hardest. This does not mean physical fight but mentally. Fight for what you believe in. When you fight, you get what you want and it shows others how determined you are.
Block 22: Competitive Greatness
"Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge."
When you're competitive, you strive to be the best. You try to be better than the rest. Competitive greatness means being competitive for the right reasons. You should not be competitive when it is not necessary. You have to be fair. Being competitive is never a bad thing unless you're doing it at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons. Be great. Be competitive. Be the best. Be invincible. YEah
Block 23: Integrity
"Purity of intention"
Having integrity means being honest and having principles. Integrity is a key to success because it's good to be honest and have morals. Having principles means believing in things and sticking to them.
Block 24: Faith
Believe and Achieve
Having faith means being able to trust someone and having confidence in them. Having faith in someone can mean a lot and be something they need to gain because faith is trust. You can trust everyone because not everyone deserves to have your trust nor do they gain it nor do they respect it. Having faith in yourself is a whole other thing and it's more important. Having faith in yourself means having confidence in yourself to do something and achieving it. This is important because when you don't have faith in yourself, it's harder for you to really go for what you want because you don't think you can do it.
Block 25: Patience
Good things take time
Being patient is so important in life. It's not good to stress over things when their not going as fast as you'd like or going the way you want them to go. You have to wait. When you wait and you're patient, when the thing you wanted to hurry up is over with, you'll be happy. It's like waiting for a gift or a special occasion. You wait and wait so the more you wait the more anxious you get and when the time comes, it'll all be worth it. It's good to be patient in tough scenarios. You can't be all pushy and trying to get things done rapidly because then it's like giving 10% instead of 90% or 100%.
Final Reflection:
1. The building blocks can benefit me in the way that they all make you a better person. They teach you what's best for you and how you can succeed easier and more to your comfort.
2. At this moment I am using more than half of these blocks.3. These blocks are making me a better person and making me more mature.
4. I will make sure I use at least one building block for every goal I have in my life planning goals journal.
5. I will make sure I introduce the building blocks to my friends and close family or anyone who is doing the opposite of one of the building blocks.
