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Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 2	Issue 56
Craig Impelman Speaking |  Championship Coaches |  Champion's Leadership Library Login
DON'T LET YESTERDAY TAKE UP TOO MUCH OF TODAY This maxim represents the foundation of Coach Wooden's approach as a teacher. He often reminded his players of this with his “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” approach and spoke poignantly on the topic: Don't live in the past, you can't do anything about the past. It will never change whether it's yesterday or last year. The future is yet to be determined and can be influenced by what you do today. Today is the only day that really matters. That's what I tried to teach. Vivian Laramore said: I have shut the door on yesterday, Its sorrows and mistakes. I have locked within its gloomy walls Past failures and mistakes. And now I throw the key away, And seek another room. And furnish it with hope and smiles, And every spring-time bloom. No thought shall enter this abode That has a taint of pain. And envy, malice, and distrust Shall never entrance gain. I have shut the door on yesterday And thrown the key away. Tomorrow holds no fear for me, Since I have found today. Today is the only day you can do anything about. Coach Wooden often referenced his father’s example as a major influence on him. His mother, Roxie, also had a powerful impact on his “focus on now, not yesterday” approach. In his book, A Game Plan for Life with Don Yaeger, Coach described it this way: I have written and talked a great deal during my long career about my father’s tremendous influence on my life, but have neglected to say much about my mother. That is a great oversight, as she was an incredible woman who managed a household with none of the modern conveniences and suffered the loss of both her daughters within a year of one another. Cordelia, who was born between my older brother Maurice and myself, died of diptheria when she was two; and there was a baby girl who died at birth and was never named. And yet Mother never once complained, or lost her faith, or showed any kind of self-pity. Instead, she poured herself into the lives of her surviving children with a fierce devotion that celebrated her love for us all. Coach Wooden enjoyed collecting and sharing poetry and stories he found inspirational. I think he would approve of me sharing some excerpts from an article written by his friend T.J. Simers in the Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2012. Octavio Sanchez of Fontana was badly burned and lost one hand and his nose seven years ago in Iraq but he's happy to be alive and with his family. In Iraq he almost died several times, before being brought back with 68% of his body suffering third-degree burns. He has had almost 30 operations on his body. Octavio says, he knows of only one way to react. “Move forward.” Octavio has been doing so for seven years. Every day, no breaks, no complaints. "What's my other choice," he says, "crying over spilt milk?" Octavio lost his right hand, two fingers on his left, his nose burns off and he says, "I've been blessed.” He's lucky too, he says, and although the three remaining fingers on his other hand are fused together, swelling sometimes and looking like sausages, there's sensation. "It's something special," he says, "to touch your children and feel their faces." Octavio Sanchez has truly taken “Don't let yesterday take up too much of today” to a new level.   Yours in coaching,     Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com   Twitter: @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE TODAY   Coach, you're a hunter and a seeker, Not for silver or for gold. Not for treasure or for pleasure, Or for anything that's sold. You're a connoisseur of living, As you move along life's way. With no worries of tomorrow, For you have found today.   Swen Nater
For more information visit www.woodenswisdom.com