Pyramid of Success

                        Pyramid of Success
                                                                    John Wooden

                                                    The 25 Building Blocks of the 

                                            Pyramid of Success

Block 1: Industriousness 

"In plain and simple English this means hard work. Very hard work. There is no substitute for very hard work when it comes to success."

- Hard work is very important if you want to be successful. You can't expect to be successful without putting in the hard work. Hard work and not giving up when things are getting tough always pays off. Hard work improves your skills overtime of being consistent with it. Personally, I want to be a professional soccer player. At the moment I think I am just an average player but I know if I keep working hard and trying my best each time I will get there. I have noticed I improved a lot throughout my high school years and I will keep improving after high school. 

Block 2: Enthusiasm 

"It is the engine that powers all blocks of the Pyramid. It is why I chose Industriousness and Enthusiasm as the cornerstones of my Pyramid of Success. It is where everything begins."
-Having enthusiasm is an important thing to have if you want to be successful. Having enthusiasm shows how eager and interested you are in becoming successful. Try your best to stay motivated and have enthusiasm every day once you get up, it will help you stay focused and the things you want to be successful in. For example, I show enthusiasm the most when it's my game day and I feel ready to go out there and play my best. I always try to stay enthusiastic everyday for school and practice to get better everyday. 

Block 3: Friendship
"Comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. Like marriage it must not be taken for granted but requires a joint effort."
-Friendship is an important part in becoming successful. Having great friends that will push you and be honest all the time are the best. Surround yourself with people that inspire you to do well and help you or make you feel better. You should always have friends like this and stay away from people that give you negativity. But if you are close friends with people you like, you have to put in effort as well and help them out and push them as well. Work together to help you guys succeed in your goals. In a good friendship you need to be honest and try to pick them up when they're feeling down. Always keep a good friendship with friends you love. 

Block 4: Loyalty 
"To yourself and to all those depending upon you. Keep your self-respect."

-Be loyal to yourself and others. Being loyal to yourself can mean not giving up on yourself and always try to do things for the better. You can be loyal to friends and family to by always keeping in touch and caring for them. Being loyal means to me to always stick by your loved ones side, including yourself. Loyalty can lead yourself to become successful. 

Block 5: Cooperation 
"With all levels of your co-workers. Listen if you want to be heard. Be interested in finding the best way, not having your own way. 

-Cooperation is very important to be a successful person. Cooperation means working together, teamwork, partnership, etc. It's always a bit easier when you work hard as a team. Listen to others and say what you have to say. For example, I need to cooperate because I am in a soccer team. I have to listen to coach and players to improve. I also need to help players and give my opinion on what I think they should improve more on to make the team better. At times your on your own and might not need to cooperate but there is times where you will need to and help you can the others succeed, you don't want to be selfish. Cooperation is a big part of many peoples success now a days. 


Block 6: Ambition 
For noble goals
-You must need ambition to go towards your goals. Ambition is that motivation and desire you need to have ton get better and work harder towards your goals. Personally, I have ambition to become a better person everyday and to get better at soccer and become a professional soccer player. Ambition really helps you a lot in reaching and getting closer to your goals . Be determined to reach those goals you have and work hard for them. Successful people always have ambition for the goals they want to achieve. Some days you may feel tired and have no energy to work hard and have that ambition for the day, but in those days you will need to put on a fight and try your best to do something that will get you little steps closer.

Block 7: Self-Control
Practice self-discipline and keep emotions under control. Good judgement and common sense are essential.
-Self-control is a must have to become successful. To have self-control means you also have balance, calmness, determination, confidence, willpower, etc. When things don't go your way, many people give-up, get angry, get sad and then just give up. 





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Block 11: Sincerity 
Keep friends

-Sincerity is a great quality to have. It will help you to become a better person. Sincerity means your honest, truthful, serious, and kindness. More people will like you if you are truthful and kind to them. Being sincerity could also help you focus more since your being serious and honest often. No one likes a person that lies and is dishonest to you. That's why it's also important to hang around with good friends that you can also be serious with and be honest with.  












Block 12: Adaptability 
To any situation 
-Adaptability is a great skill to have to be successful. This means you can adapt and work with any situation your life puts you in, good or bad. There is always going to be changes to you and your life so it's very important to learn how to adapt. For example, when you just graduate High School and move on to college, your life, priorities, responsibilities, schedule, etc may change. These changes can lead you onto a better successful life. 







Block 13: Condition 
"Mental-Moral-Physical, Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated. 
-Condition is very important to have to succeed. There is different types of conditions. Mental condition, physical condition and moral condition. They should all be in good condition, physically it's important to eat healthy, exercise and rest. Having good condition can make you last longer and have more energy, like if you were running.

Block 14: Skill
"A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail."

-Having skills is key to succeeding. You can have skills with anything. You have to practice important skills that you will need in your life. Depending what you want to be in life. Be a skillful person and learn how to do many things. Your skills can lead to fantastic opportunities for you. For example, I am a good listener when it comes to person to person. I can somewhat multi-task. I have athletic knowledge and others. All these skills you have or things you want to practice and have as a skill can all lead to a good job.

Block 15: Team Spirit 
"A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all."
-It is very important to have team spirit to succeed. Working with others can help you out and make things a lot easier, better, and more fun. When your in a sport, this is how you learn to become a team player and have team spirit. You work with others trying your best to reach a goal and work hard in practices to get better.



Block 16: Honesty 
In thought and action 
-Honesty is major when you want to succeed. Being honest to others and especially to yourself.

Being honest to others can lead to great relationships and trust with people. Being honest to yourself allows you to know where you are and how you can improve everyday and never settle. Honesty makes you a greater person, it makes you trustworthy. Honesty is a major key.


Block 17: Resourcefulness
Proper judgement

-Resourcefulness is a great thing to have that can lead you to success. Resourcefulness is the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties. This is really important because in life, you will come across difficult obstacles that you will have to face and knowing how to overcome them is great and you will learn from these obstacles and mistakes you've made.


Block 18: Poise
"Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situations." Graceful and elegant bearing in a person.

-Poise is a big part in becoming successful. Poise means graceful and elegant bearing in a person. It pretty much means that you can be calm and ease down when you should and control your temper. Usually the older you get the better you get at this. This also has to do with your self confidence. Have this down and this can help you get to success.






Block 19: Confidence 
"Respect without fear. May come from being prepared and keeping all things in proper perspective." 

- Having confidence is a major part in becoming a success person. Confidence means that feeling or belief that no one can rely on someone or something, firm trust. You need to have confidence in yourself and your dreams and goals. You have to believe you will accomplish that goal you have one day. It's all about believing it is possible. My dream is to hopefully one day become a professional soccer player, I have confidence in myself that if I keep working hard and practicing I will make it.


Block 20: Reliability 
Creates respect
- Reliability is very important to have to succeed in life. Reliability means the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well. This creates others to respect and trust you. More people will like you and that will most likely get more friends. People will know you to be hard working and consistent. Nobody wants a friend that is lazy and untrustworthy.

Block 21: Fight 
Determined effort
-To fight for what you want is one of most important things in my opinion to be successful. Obviously not physically fighting but to fight for what you want. For example, if you are in a sports team, in a game you are fighting to win every game. Fight for your dreams and goals. If you don't put on a fight you will not win, you will get beat. Fighting is about putting your maximum effort and being passionate for the thing you want.










Block 22: Competitive Greatness
"Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge."
-Competitive Greatness is very important to become successful. You need to enjoy having those difficult challenges you will come across in your life. Being competitive will get you more chances of winning and doing well. Being competitive means you will give it your best and are hungry to get what you want.




Block 23: Integrity 
Purity of intention 
-Integrity is a very important part in becoming successful. Integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Being honest is obviously very important and should be honest all the time. Whether its with others and yourself. Honesty towards others will lead them to most likely liking you because they know you will always being honest with them and people like hearing the truth. Being honest to yourself is very important as well. Being honest about how your life is, what your dreams and goals are and where is your current place. All this is important to be successful.

Block 24: Faith 
Believe and Achieve 
-Having faith is a must if you want to be successful. The definition of faith is to have trust and confidence in someone or something. You have to have faith that you will achieve your goals. For example, in soccer I always have faith that I will score and play well and that my team will win. If you don't have faith most likely you will not accomplish that goal. Faith is confidence, trust and belief.


Block 25: Patience 
Good things take time
-Patience is a major key to become successful. The definition of patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. You will need patience because there will be many tough time on the road when becoming successful.There is tough times in life in general. Patience is something you will need to help you go through life. Getting angry and upset will not help you with anything. Patience will lead you to more opportunities down the road.





Final Reflection: These building blocks will benefit me. I have all these blocks in my mind now and will stick with me. I can always look back at them when I need some motivation or advice. Blocks I believe I am using now are faith, integrity, reliability, poise, honesty, team spirit, condition, sincerity, self-control, ambition, cooperation, industrializes, friendship, loyalty, etc. There is a couple I know I am missing and could improve on and I will work on it to become better. The difference I can see the blocks doing in my life is making me become a better person and helping me get closer to some of my goals. I will pass some of these blocks on to family and close friends or anybody I am talking to. If a topic that can relate to this comes up I will make sure to include these blocks and the benefits of doing them will be.