Tải sách Sometimes You Win Sometimes You Learn PDF FREE

For many years, I had the opportunity of meeting regularly with former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. I’d spend a day preparing to meet with him, deciding what questions I would ask. I was very conscious of how rare a privilege it was to learn from a mentor such as him. Coach was always so kind and thoughtful. The last time I met with him, he asked me what I was working on. I had just finished the outline for Sometimes You Win—Sometimes You Learn, and I was very excited about it. I took the pages from my briefcase and showed them to him, detailing the thesis and what had prompted me to write it. “What a tremendous idea. You can help people with this,” said Coach.

Then he really surprised me. He asked, “Can I write the foreword for it?” What an honor! Of course I said yes. Coach wrote the foreword as promised, and a few months later he died. I was very humbled, realizing that this was one of the last things he probably wrote. The world of book writing is a funny thing. My publisher decided that they wanted me to write The 5 Levels of Leadership first, then The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. During that time, this book had to wait. After a delay of a couple of years, I finally got to write it. So that’s the story of how John Wooden came to write the following foreword. I am grateful for his thoughts. He may have gone on before us, but he is surely not forgotten.

It isn’t just that he has authored more than fifty books on leadership and character, though that is pretty impressive. It isn’t just that his words of encouragement have inspired millions of people to reevaluate their choices and priorities, though that is important. It isn’t just that he is a man of principles and faith, though those are admirable qualities. I am proud to call John my friend because he is a man who understands that above all things, life is about learning—and about using those lessons to become a better employer, better employee, better parent, better sibling, better friend, better neighbor, better steward of our blessings. This philosophy has been the bedrock of my own life, and I credit John with always serving as a wonderful reminder of how much more learning can be done.

I never saw myself as a coach but rather as a teacher whose primary classroom was the basketball court. But I also understood that I was an eter- nal student, as well. I have tried every day to learn something new, to gain a different perspective, or to harbor a more mature understanding of the world. That way of thinking is what keeps a mind young, optimistic, and joyful. Every time John would visit me, his yellow legal pad covered with the questions he planned to ask me, I always got a chuckle at the sight of one of the professional world’s leading answer men still eager for deeper insights and still willing to ask questions to gain them. It was a wonderful reminder that I should do the same. After all, learning isn’t something that stops when we are handed a diploma.

In fact, that’s actually the point when the real learning begins. The lessons we are given in school are not the things that carry us through life; those are just the lessons that give us the basic tools to face the real world outside the classroom walls. And that real world is going to sting. It is going to hurt. Sometimes it is going to bump and bruise you; other times it is going to knock you off your feet. The losses are going to come at you in every shape and size, and hit you in every area of your life from your finances to your heart to your health, and more—that much is guaranteed. What is not guaranteed is how you react to those challenges. As John discusses in this book, there is a marked difference between the people who learn from their losses and the people who do not.

Do you want your spirit stuck in the infirmary, too battle weary for another try? Or do you want to seize the opportunity to study, evaluate, and reconsider what happened—and use that knowledge to arm yourself for another charge at life? The elements of learning that John outlines in the following pages are profound observations as to how the process happens, and he pinpoints what character trait or attribute comes from each. By dissecting the “DNA of those who learn,” as he so succinctly puts it, John walks us through the necessary components of dealing with different types of loss and turning those lessons into valuable weapons both to ward off and fight through future challenges. I would challenge anyone who has ever suffered a setback, felt disappointment, or been the recipient of bad news (in other words, every human who has ever walked the earth) to read John’s message and not find at least one insight that can drastically change his or her own perspective on life’s darker moments.

If we follow John’s advice and learn to look at losses as opportunities for growth through learning, then we become undefeatable. Life will always be fraught with loss, but if we are properly armed, the loss will not overcome us. Because the man or woman who takes something worthwhile from the bad times strips them of their control over our minds, bodies, hearts, and souls. These pages offer more than just a how-to manual for getting through difficult times; they offer the most valuable gift of all: hope.

My friend Robert Schuller once asked, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you wouldn’t fail?” That’s a great question, an inspiring question. When most people hear it, they start dreaming again. They are motivated to reach for their goals and to risk more. I have a question that I think is just as important: what do you learn when you fail? While people are usually ready to talk about their dreams, they are not well prepared to answer a question about their shortcomings.

Most people don’t like to talk about their mistakes and failures. They don’t want to confront their losses. They are embarrassed by them. And when they do find themselves falling short, they may find themselves saying something trite, such as “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” The message is, “Hope to win, expect to lose, and live with the results either way.” What’s wrong with that? It’s not how winners think! Successful people approach losing differently. They don’t try to brush failure under the rug. They don’t run away from their losses. Their attitude is never Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Instead they think, Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. They understand that life’s greatest lessons are gained from our losses—if we approach them the right way.