Music School In Odessa Texas | Pyramid of Success

The following contains excerpt from the book, Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life (John Wooden, Jay Carty).

A musician and artist will not succeed as a result of his or her talent, but rather by a comprehensive outlook on life that is prone to greatness. Failure to build a proper foundation will ultimately result in demise.

In our music school in Odessa Texas, we hope to help students develop a successful life and well as their art.

“Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success” is a compilation of John Wooden’s philosophies that he lived and taught as a basketball coach to his many students and team members. The principles are based upon Biblical ideals, and even though John Wooden never ‘preached’ to any of his students, as he felt that this was inappropriate to his position as a college professor, he endeavored to live these principles before them, as well as having the expectation of his students to be responsive to the principles as well.

Many of John Wooden’s students, as they finished their basketball careers, went on to become successful in many different areas of life, citing the pyramid principles that Wooden taught as inspiration for their success. Among one of Wooden’s students, Jay Carty became a pastor and author, which makes the book a little richer, knowing that Wooden, along with his student Carty co-authored the book.

The foundational premise that Wooden established for his own life initially came from his father’s teaching as he was growing up on a farm. His father told John and his brother not to compete with others and to always do their best. His father warned of the limitations that come from comparing one’s self to others, since you cannot control how good or bad someone else’s performance will be. If you are constantly comparing yourself to someone else, then you are not truly in control of your own life, they are. Instead, placing the emphasis on what you can control, which is simply doing your best, and letting the results take care of themselves, brings freedom. Wooden concludes that even in games that his team lost, if he knew that they did their best, giving their all, he saw it as a success. Conversely, even if his team won the game and he knew they could have given more, he was not satisfied with their performance.

In our music school in Odessa Texas, we do not wish for students to compete in their minds against their peers or anyone else, but rather asking the question, “Have I done my best?” This is ultimately the only benchmark that counts.

Wooden, after years of crafting his definition of success, finally penned: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.” Ultimately, according to Wooden, you alone are the only one who knows whether you are successful, regardless of fame, notoriety or prosperity.

The building blocks of the pyramid have a broad foundation, culminating a the pyramid’s pinnacle, and the pyramid’s blocks are ‘glued together’ with the mortar of supportive characteristics which run throughout every block-characteristic.

The principles are as follows:

Level 1 (Foundation)

Building Block 1: Industriousness: In plain language, I mean that you have to work- and work hard. There is no substitute for work. None. Worthwhile things come only from real work. Tiger Woods? Payton Manning? As important as their physical abilities is the way they work so hard to correct and improve their skill. They are legendary for their hard work, their industriousness.

We expect students in our music school in Odessa Texas to work hard, and to work smart as they discover their unique talents through crafting them in practice and performance.

Building Block 2: Friendship: The two qualities of friendship so important for a leader to possess and instill in team members are respect and camaraderie. Camaraderie is a spirit of goodwill that exists between individuals and members of a group – comrades-in arms. Think of how much you’ll give when asked to do so by someone you respect and with whom you share camaraderie.
Building Block 3: Loyalty: It is impossible to be a good leader without loyalty to your organization- your team- just as it is impossible to be a good citizen without loyalty to your country. You must, of course, have the courage to be loyal to those you lead. Doing so is not always easy. It starts, however, with loyalty to yourself- your standards, your system, your values. Compromising them—especially under the banner of expediency- is disloyalty; personal betrayal of yourself.
Building Block 4: Cooperation: Ten strong field horses could not pull an empty baby carriage if they worked independently of each other. Regardless of how much effort they exerted individually, the carriage wouldn’t’ budge without their mutual cooperation. The sharing of ideas, information, creativity, responsibilities, and tasks is a priority of good leadership. The only thing that is not shared is blame. A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit (when it is deserved) to others.

We hope to instill an attitude of teamwork and successful ensemble in the students of our music school in Odessa Texas. Music, ultimately, is not primarily about ‘sound’ but rather relationships.

Building Block 5: Enthusiasm: Simply put, I mean you must love that which you do. Your heart must be in it. Without enthusiasm you cannot work up to your fullest ability and potential; you’re just going through the motions. And going through the motions won’t bring you to the level of competitive greatness we seek whether in basketball, business, or life.

Level 2

Building Block 6: Self-control: Self-control is most essential for discipline and mastery of emotions. You cannot function effectively unless your emotions are under control…I preferred to create a gradually increasing level of both intensity and achievement rather than trying to create artificial emotional highs. For every contrived peak you create, there is a subsequent valley. do not like valleys. Self-control provides emotional stability and fewer valleys. Thus, I prized intensity very much- controlled focus and directed energy.

We teach students in our music school in Odessa Texas that self-mastery is the key to success. If you cannot lead yourself well, you cannot lead others with integrity.

Building Block 7: Alertness: There is something going on around us at all times from which we can acquire knowledge if we have alertness. Too often we get lost in our tunnel vision and we don’t see the things that are right in front of us for the taking, for the learning. A driver who’s asleep at the wheel will crash. The same happens to organizations.
Building Block 8: Initiative: The courage to make decisions and take action. Keep in mind that we all are going to fail at times. You must understand this and not fear failure. None of us is perfect. But if you are afraid to fail you will never do the things you are capable of doing. If you have thoroughly prepared and are ready to give it everything you’ve got there is no shame if you fail- nothing to fear in failure. But fear of failure is what often prevents one from taking action- from using initiative. I truly believe that failure to act- lack of initiative- is often the greatest failure of all.
Building Block 9: Intentness: Intentness means determination, persistence, tenacity and perseverance. It is the ability to resist temptation and stay the course, to concentrate on your objective with determination and resolve. Impatience is wanting too much too soon. Intentness doesn’t involve wanting something. It involves doing something often for a very long time. The road to real achievement is usually bumpy and long, but you do not give up. You may have setbacks. You may have to start over. You may have to change your method. You may have to go around, or over, or under. You may have to back up and get another start. But you do not quit. You stay the course. To do that, you must have intentness.

Level 3

Building Block 10: Condition: You must be conditioned for whatever you’re doing if you’re going to do it right- to the best of your ability. There are different types of condition for different professions. A deep-sea diver has different conditioning from a salesperson. You must also have mental and moral condition. In fact, you can’t attain proper physical condition unless it is preceded by mental and moral condition. How does one attain moral condition? Long lists of rules are the usual prescription, but I’ve stressed a common sense method for decades: practice moderation and balance in all that you do. This advice, easy to remember, is also very effective.

We expect students in our music school in Odessa Texas to acquire and maintain basic techniques and understandings of skill in their respective artistic tracks, whether it be knowing their scales and theory, or understanding pedagogy so they can ultimately teach others.

Building Block 11: Skill: You have to know what you’re doing and be able to do it quickly and properly. As much as I value experience, and I value it greatly, I’d rather have a lot of skill and less experience than a lot of experience and very little skill. Regardless of the specific skills required in a profession, you must master all of them.
Building Block 12: Team Spirit: Initially, I defined team spirit as “a willingness to sacrifice personal interest of glory for the welfare of all”, but there was something in the definition that bothered me, something not quite right. What wasn’t quite right was the word “willingness.” In my definition, I changed the word “willingness” to “eagerness.” Praise that comes because of your contribution to the group is the kind of praise I prize. And so should you.

Level 4

Building Block 13: Poise: I define poise as being true to oneself, not getting rattled, thrown off, or unbalanced regardless of the circumstance or situation. This may sound easy, but in challenging times poise can be a most elusive quality. Leaders lacking poise panic under pressure. So does everyone else. Poise means holding fast to your principles and acting in accordance with them regardless of how bad or good the situation may be. Rudyard Kipling described in his poem written a hundred years ago: “If you can meet Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same…”
Building Block 14: Confidence: There is perhaps no stronger steel than well-founded self-belief: the knowledge that your preparation is complete, that you have done all things possible to ready yourself and your organization for the competition. This is confidence. Confidence cannot be grafted on artificially. Real abiding confidence, like poise, is earned only by tenaciously pursuing and attaining those assets that allow you to reach your own level of competency- the potential you have within. Confidence must be monitored so that is does not spoil or rot and turn into arrogance.

Level 5 (Pinnacle)

Building Block 15: Competitive Greatness: “A real love for the hard battle, knowing it offers the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required.” The great competitors that I have played for, coached, and admired all shared a joy derived from the struggle itself- the journey, the contest. They have done so because only in that supreme effort is there an opportunity to summon your best, a personal greatness that cannot be diminished, dismissed, or derided because of a final score or bottom line. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

The mortar of Faith and Patience runs throughout each building block, holding them all together.

These thoughts present a fascinating outline of guiding principles that helped shape one of the greatest sports legacies of coaching and leadership known in our generation. Applying these concepts to any team will surely bring advantage.