Tomorrow we celebrate another annual Thanksgiving Day all across America. I am thankful that Abraham Lincoln saw the need many years ago to set aside a day for all of us to be thankful. The older I get the more I see that people are ungrateful for what they have and where they are.

We all get busy. We all fight the day in and day out’s of life. We all neglect, daily, the need to give thanks.

Being thankful is not hard is it?

Thanksgiving Day is more than the turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce(yuck), smashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, parades, football, naps…. Thanksgiving Day is a day of thanks that is set aside to be mindful and thankful for everything. Now, on top of all the traditions mentioned in the first sentence of this paragraph and another day off of work, it is becoming a day we plan and strategize for the Black Friday attack.

I am thankful for one thing this again this year – I am thankful I can be thankful everyday!

What about you?

Finally, we reach the top of the pyramid.  This is no typical pyramid, but the Pyramid of Success that we have today from the late John Wooden.  Success traits that can help us all be better leaders, sports players, employees, business owners, spouses, parents, friends….  And now, at the top, we find this last trait.  Still one we can use in every area of our lives –

15. Competitive Greatness – “Perform at your best when your best is required.  Your best is required each day.”  At the top is one crucial statement – be your best and remember your best is required every day.  There are many counting on you to be your best.  Not the least of which is your family.  You really have no time to be anything but your best – every day!  How comforting to reflect at the end of the day and realize that you gave it your best.  It may not have ended the way your wanted or dreamed, but you gave it your best.

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” – John Wooden

”Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.”—John Wooden

Inspiring words that continue to live on.

John Wooden’s died in 2010.  Today, his legacy is still alive with his Pyramid of Success.  These short bits of inspiration helped so many basketball players and people alike.  If you have missed any of the three previous blog posts, you can find them at my website by clicking here.

This week I am sharing two of the final three traits in this pyramid.

13. Poise - “Be yourself.  Don’t be thrown off by events whether good or bad.”  Things in this world hit all around you all the time.  In working with my clients, we refer to those thing as “bombs”.  Sometimes those bombs are big and dangerous, others are no more than smoke and some noise.  Being prepared and knowing how to act will keep you focused on what is important in your life.  Live your plan!!

14. Confidence – “The strongest steel is well-founded self-belief.  It is earned, not given.”  Confidence does not equate to cockiness.  Belief in yourself is something that comes from knowing yourself.  That self-beleif is built knowing what you can and can not do.  Do what you do the best you can – be confident.  Work on the areas you need to improve so that you can be confident.

Next week – the top of the Pyramid of Success.

Eight years ago today was the most important day in my financial life.  It hard to believe it has been eight years.  This is a re-post of last years remembrance!

You can read it here….

This is the third of five installments highlighting John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. Lessons that all of us can use in our lives daily.

10. Condition – “Ability may get your to the top, but charter keeps you there – mental, moral, and physical.”. Build yourself to be what you need to be, but only your character will allow you to maintain. Character is what you are when no one else is around or looking.

11. Skill – “What a leader learns after you’ve learned it all counts most of all.” no one knows it all, but many think they do. Digging deeper to find answers and solutions will strengthen you for the course, tasks, and decisions.

12. Team Spirit – “The star of the team is the team. ‘We’ superseded ‘me’.” In my high school, the players wore shirts that simply said – “there is no ‘I’ in team. Working together effectively builds strength, endurance, stability, and synergy.

You can read the first set of traits here and the second blog of traits by clicking here.

This book made me struggle. It was a struggle to stay in it. Unlike what I expected from what I thought a spiritual book, this book was much more like a text book. Great nuggets throughout, but hard to stay involved. The material and examples, although, were very relevant to the theme of the book.

The author expands on the virtues required to build wrong leaders and businesses. These virtues can equal success – not necessarily financial success, but also not limited to financial success.

Compasion, perserverance, gratitude, courage, respect, and so many more – virtues for a successful business. So many companies are described that had those basic virtues. While not all of them, Johnson & Johnson, Chick-fil-a, Cummins, and more were shown as examples of virtuous businesses.

One of my favorites and a great take-away from the book was one virtue – gratitude. An example was Truett Cathy and the company he founded, Chick-fil-a. Being grateful with words of “thank you” and “it’s my pleasure” are things that are overlooked by many businesses today large and small.  Those small statements, when meant sincerely can have a huge payoff.

The author made a statement that for me, while deep in the book, set the tone – “This book has not been about the pursuit of wealth, but the obtaining of it.” Wealth is not always money.

One interesting fact was that Johnson and Johnson’s early mission was to “put the customer first and shareholders last” while being “governed by fairness and the grace of God.”  Later on that very same page, the author points out that Johnson & Johnson “has never posted a loss in its entire 120-year history”.  Coincidence?

Small, medium, large – every business owner needs to read this book.