Jason Selk - Relentless Solution Focus

If you enjoyed this book, discover your next great read with the following excerpt.

O n March 25, 2010, the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden inspired me to write this book.

The moment I walked into Coach Woodens small but homey condo, I saw testaments to his greatness: book after book about leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa, volumes about basketball, photos of the coachs family and friends, and snapshots of the coach with various athletes, movie stars, and presidents. This collection captured the essence of his long, inspiring lifea life full not only of success but also of love and learning.

Standing in his home, I felt as if I had known him my whole life. You could say that I considered Coach Wooden to be my mentoran idol, evenalthough I had never met him in person until that moment 39 years into my life.

My relationship with Coach Wooden started in my youth. A classic underachiever, as a kid I did just enough to make the grade or team. I was never willing to go the extra mile to achieve greatnessto be that student or player who excels by constantly pushing the boundaries of leadership performance and making those around him become better by being the positive role model of discipline and success. Then in the early 1990s when I was just about to complete my undergraduate psychology degree at the University of Missouri, Coach Wooden changed my approach to life. While completing a research paper, The Ingredients of High-Level Athletic Performance, I became fixated with Coach Wooden. His trademark two sets of threesnever lie, never cheat, never steal, and dont whine, dont complain, dont make excusescertainly reinforced the basics my own parents had taught me. What changed my life, however, was Coach Woodens emphasis on not making excuses. I learned from the coach the importance of not blaming others for my shortcomings. Slowly but surely I came to the realization that I would never achieve the goals I had for myself without learning to give my best effort, and to do so my excuse making needed to stop. His definition of success continues to ground my personal and professional life:

SUCCESS: Peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.

I went on to read everything the coach had ever written. I poured over his teachings to identify exactly how he transformed talented ballplayers into great men and legendary teams. When I took his advice and became accountable for my own life, I realized I had found not only my own personal recipe for growth but also the basis for the plan I would use to help others achieve their life goals as well.

Remarkably, a few years into my career as a performance coach, I made friends with two of Coach Woodens favorite people, Tom Bartow and Andy Hill. Tom had become close with Coach Wooden after Toms uncle, Gene Bartow, took over at UCLA for Coach Wooden. Andy played for Coach Wooden and later went on to serve as president of CBS. Together, Tom and Andy arranged for me to meet one-on-one with the man himself. They told me before my meeting that if the weather was nice, we would go out, and if it rained, we would have Kentucky Fried Chicken at the coachs condo. I prayed for rain.

Although the sun was shining, I found myself sitting on the couch in the legends living room. Up close, I was surprised by coachs sense of humor. As he laughed and told jokes with Tom and Andy, I felt comforted by his warm smile. Even though Coach Wooden was well into his nineties and his physical health was deteriorating, his mind was still sharp as a tack. In fact, Coach Wooden had written more than 10 bestselling books while in his nineties! Thats more than most bestselling authors write in their entire careers! At first I made small talk with the coach. I asked him a few questions about basketball and his opinion about the best coaches in the game today. I then found the courage to tell Coach Wooden how much I appreciated all that he had done for me. I told him my story, and then I thanked him for the positive impact he and his no excuse teachings had made on my life. Coach looked back at me with his soft blue eyes and responded with the utmost sincerity, It means a lot to me to know that I have helped.

With tears in my eyes, I sat in awe of this great coach. His humanity overwhelmed me, and in an instant I knew that everything I read about Coach Woodenhis integrity, his ability to listen, his brilliance, and his caringwas all true. Coach Wooden in person surpassed his legend. In that moment I determined that I would keep striving to reach my own personal greatness. I was also inspired to write this book to help others reach and surpass their potential. And I knew I would do both the right way, the Wooden way, by identifying the fundamentals and then executing at the highest level possible.

John Wooden will go down as one of the greatest leaders of all time. Certainly, his form of leadership involved teaching and motivating others to follow his lead. Coach inspired his players to greatness, not just on the court, but off of it as well. Many give the coach credit for teaching them not only how to lead others but also how to lead themselves. Coach Wooden would say that leadership isnt just about leading or coaching others. It is first and foremost about leading yourself and truly leadingrather than followingyour life. You begin to approach greatness when you know how you define your own version of success and dedicate yourself to performing at or above your potential on a consistent basis in service of those life goals. When you are indeed the best you can be, you deliver your leadership performancea performance so good that it leads your life in the direction you want it to go. Because success is infectious, leading others will become the natural by-product of your personal actions and behaviors. Others will be drawn to you as I and countless others were drawn to learn from Coach Wooden.

I have had the great privilege of serving as a performance coach to some of the most successful athletes and businesspeople to walk the planet, and this book provides the proven, actionable path for delivering your leadership performance and achieving the greatness you desire. It builds off of Coach Woodens philosophy that a focus on fundamentals drives success. The coach motivated his players to execute those fundamentals at a higher level than the competition. In doing so, he taught his players to control greatness. Not to seek greatness, or to emulate greatness, or even to achieve greatness. But instead to control greatness through attention to excellence in the basics.

I know, and have known for years, that Coach Wood-ens philosophy delivers winning performances not only in sports but also in life. Ive tested his theories in my own journey and with thousands of clients. By the time I opened my private practice, I had decided that my goal was to become the best performance coach in the world. I started by creating the concrete and comprehensive mental training plan that eventually became my first book, 10-Minute Toughness. Attracted by its simplicity and effectiveness, Major League Baseball players flocked to it. Within a few years, I was coaching professional athletes from virtually every sport. Ultimately, I accepted a position with the St. Louis Cardinals as their director of mental training, and in my first year working with the team, we won the World Series.

As my stock began to rise in the athletic world, more and more businesspeople reached out to me for assistance. Eventually I found myself providing not only executive coaching services to scores of individual Fortune 500 and 100 executives, but also consulting to their companies about talent and performance development. Since 2008, I have translated