Introduction
Small Things Can Matter Most
As one of the most revered coaches in American history, John Wooden, the “Wizard of Westwood,” coached his UCLA Bruins basketball team to an unprecedented, and never-again-repeated, ten national championship titles in twelve years. This remarkable winning streak included an astonishing run of eighty-eight undefeated games in a row, and back-to-back 30–0 seasons.
If you had been lucky enough to get into UCLA and play basketball for the great John Wooden in the 1960s and early 1970s, you would have been surprised on your first day of practice. Instead of the opportunity to show your passing, shooting, and dribbling skills in front of the esteemed coach, your first lesson at your first practice would have been to learn to put on your socks, and lace and tie your shoes, properly.
Describing the first practice of every season, Wooden said in an interview that he would ask his players to take off their shoes and socks. Explaining that these were the most important pieces of equipment each player possessed on the court, Wooden taught his players how to carefully pull on each sock, making sure there were no wrinkles, particularly around the heel and toes, which might cause a blister.1
Then, advising each player to hold his socks up firmly while lacing his shoes, he told the player to pull the laces securely from each eyelet, not simply yank the laces from the top. And always, always, double- knot the laces, Wooden said, having no tolerance for shoes that became untied during a practice or a game. Ever.
Wooden explained that, after each player spent a few minutes following his careful instructions, he would inspect the player’s work, and probably tell him that his shoes were too big, anyway, and instruct the player to show up at the next practice with shoes at least a half size smaller. Over the years, he had noticed that his players had the habit of buying shoes that were too big so the players could “grow into them,” just as they had been taught as kids.2 As a result, his players were often wearing shoes that were too big, allowing their feet to slide around during the constant stopping and starting as they ran around the court.
This is how the greatest basketball coach of all time started his first practice of each season.
This book isn’t about how to put on your shoes and socks, but it is about doing little things that can lead to big impact. Small, consistent efforts, practiced over time, can yield big results for you, and the people around you.
The reason New Year’s resolutions fail is not because the goal is too great or the intention is misguided. It’s because the discrepancy between where we are today and the envisioned future often appears so great that we cannot bridge the gap. If we resolve to spend five days a week at the gym, and we currently spend zero, then the gap is so great that we cannot immediately and easily cross it.
This book is about small steps and tiny tweaks in how we treat ourselves, how we carry ourselves, and how we think about other people, and the world, that can change the way we think and behave.