Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

110 Percent Isn’t the Goal

The players were charged with trying to improve a little each day, trying to get closer to becoming their best. I tried to be honest with them in letting them know they wouldn’t reach perfection.

But I was also honest in saying that I expected them to give everything they had in trying to reach perfection. That’s what we worked toward. Let’s see how close we can get. We won’t reach 120 percent, or 110 percent, but how close to 100 percent of our potential can we get? That was my challenge to them: how close can we get to perfect?

When individuals are sincerely motivated to take up that challenge, the results are astonishing.