John Wooden: “Never Cease Trying to Be the Best You Could Be.”
The Quote of the Day Show | Daily Motivational Talks
Sean Croxton
4.8 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Legendary coach John Wooden shares his timeless definition of success — one that has nothing to do with winning trophies or titles. Instead, success is rooted in effort, character, and becoming the best version of yourself. In this thoughtful message, Wooden explains how focusing on what you can control leads to peace of mind and a truly meaningful life.
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Source: The difference between winning and succeeding | John Wooden | TED
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Transcript
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| 0:30.0 | No written word, no spoken plea can teach our youth what they should be, nor all the books |
| 0:36.1 | on all the shelves is what the teachers are |
| 0:39.0 | themselves. Welcome back to the quote of the day show. |
| 0:56.8 | I am your host Sean Croxton, as Sean Croxton.com. |
| 1:00.4 | We got John Wooden, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time on the show today. |
| 1:05.1 | Today he's going to reveal his own personal definition of success, which I think is one of the best definitions I've ever heard before. |
| 1:13.6 | He's also going to share three rules that he learned from his father, that he stuck by for his whole entire life, |
| 1:19.4 | and he encourages you two as well. |
| 1:22.2 | John Woodens coming up. |
| 1:26.3 | I coined my own definition of success in 1934 when I was teaching at a high school in South Bend, |
| 1:33.3 | Indiana, being a little bit disappointed and delusioned perhaps by the way parents of the youngsters |
| 1:41.3 | in my English classes expected their youngsters to get an A or B. |
| 1:46.8 | They thought a C was alright for the neighbor's children because the neighbor's children are all average. |
| 1:51.5 | But they weren't satisfied with their own and would make the teacher feel that they had failed or the youngster had failed. |
| 1:58.0 | And that's not right. |
| 1:59.0 | The good Lord is infant wisdom didn't create us all equal as far as intelligence concern, |
| 2:03.0 | any more than we equal for size, appearance. |
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