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

Finding the Answers: The Pyramid

One day I saw an illustration that helped lead me to the answers I was looking for. It was called the ladder of achievement.

The author had taken a ladder with five rungs and had given each rung of that ladder a name describing something he thought was necessary to get to the top of the ladder.

Naturally I could not use the ladder idea, and I had a completely different notion of what the top consisted of. But it gave me the idea for what became the Pyramid of Success.

I decided that the individual blocks of the Pyramid would consist of those personal qualities necessary for achieving success according to my definitions: peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to ...