I recently read “Driven From Within” by Michael Jordan. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. As always, if you like the quotes, please buy the book here.
“Players who practice hard when no one is paying attention generally play well when everyone is watching.” (8)
“What I did on the floor drove the marketing, not the other way around. The Jordan brand was driven by what I did every night playing the game.” (12)
“When my play starting providing me with rewards, then I wanted to prove I deserved them. I never felt the desire to rest on what I had accomplished.” (13)
“I never felt like I deserved to drive a Bentley when I got my first contract, or live in a mansion. Those things might be symbols of success to some people, but there are a lot of people who confuse symbols with actual success.” (13)
“Just like my high school coach used to say: It’s hard, but it’s fair.” (13)
“I had no doubts or fears because I never had expectations that were out of context with my skill level.” (25)
“No one had in mind what would be acceptable for me. After the first year, the expectations came, but by that time I had positive habits.” (33)
“I understood that the reason I was getting attention was because of the work I had put in up to that point, not because of what I had done to meet other people’s expectations for me.” (33)
“The whole marketing approach is about drawing attention to the product. Once that happens, and everyone performs the way they are supposed to perform, then the two come together like a perfect marriage.” (48)
“You have to be uncompromised in your level of commitment to whatever you are doing, or it can disappear as fast as it appeared.” (52)
“Some players noticed me because of everything I was doing off the court, and that was the wrong reason to pay attention to me. Pay attention to the way I played the game. Pay attention to my passion. Pay attention to the idea of focusing on improvement every day. Pay attention to my commitment. Commitment cannot be compromised by rewards. Excellence isn’t a one-week or one-year ideal. It’s a constant. There will be days when you don’t feel on top of your game, or meetings in which you aren’t at your best, but your commitment remains constant. No compromises.” (52)
“Authenticity is about being true to who you are, even when everyone else wnats you to be someone else.” (135)
“It’s a lot harder to become the best you can be when you’re focused on trying to be the best version of someone else. There’s nothing authentic in that, and if it’s not authentic, then it’s not going to last.” (135)
“Maybe even a shot that could have won a game. I can deal with that. If I don’t miss the shot, then I don’t miss it – we win. I can rationalize the fact there are only two outcomes: You either make it, or you miss it. I could think that way because I knew I had earned the opportunity to take that shot.
I had put in all the work, not only in that particular game, but in practice every day. If I missed, then it wasn’t meant to be. That simple. It wasn’t because the effort wasn’t there. It wasn’t because I couldn’t make the shot, because I had taken the same shot many time in every situation. As soon as the ball went up, there weren’t any nerves because I had trained myself for that situation.
I was as prepared as I could possibly have been for that moment. I couldn’t go back and practice a little harder. I knew I had done the right things to prepare myself for that situation. One way or another, I knew I was prepared to be successful. Now, if you know you haven’t prepared correctly, or you know you haven’t worked hard enough, that’s when other thoughts and emotions creep into your mind. That’s stress. That’s fear.” (167)
“It’s the same process for doing anything, anywhere in life no matter how big or small the stage. Whehter it’s running a corporation, taking a test in second grade or taking a shot ot win a game, at that moment you are the sum total of all the work you have put in, nothing more and nothing less. If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear. There’s no stress in losing under those circumstances. It just wasn’t meant to be.” (167)
“If I go to New Jersey for Game 56, we were probably expected to win the agme by 30 points in those days. But that never dawned on me. It was the idea somebody might be sitting there who had never seen Michael Jordan play. I thought about that person who had never experienced the excitement or entertainment I could provide. That would be the thought that drove me to play that game.” (181)
“When I did get attention, I wanted to show people that I deserved it.” (185)
“The products, companies and people who stay true to who they are usually end up being around for a long time. The ones that lose their way by jumping on one fad or another, or trying to be something other than what or who they are, don’t last long.“ (194)
“We bring our personalities, our visions and our creativity to the discussion, and we don’t give a damn about getting credit.” (202)
“Successful people listen. Guys who don’t listen, don’t survive long.” (202)
If you liked the quotes, please buy the book here.
