was incredible. We were lucky to hang on. He never quit in the fourth quarter. No lead was safe with Michael in the game.”
“MJwould keep driving to the hole time after time,” said former NBA player Xavier McDaniel. “You hit him and knock him down;most guys would start to pull up and take jump shots. Not MJ. He’d never stop going to the rack, no matter how many times you knocked him down.”
“With Michael Jordan you could never let your guard down,” said former NBA guard Paul Pressey. “He was so relentless you couldn’t rest for a second because he was always on the attack, always dogging you. And he did it on the bench, too. He’d study everything and when he’d get back in the game he’d have picked something up to attack you more.”
Mark Randall, a former Bulls player, recalled:“One year in an exhibition game, we were losing badly late in the game. During a time-out, MJ yelled at all of us ‘Don’t ever think about quitting tonight. If they think you’re weak now, then later in the season they’ll kill you when it counts. ’”
Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round—remember that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.
—James J. Corbett
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER
My adopted son David spent two weeks in college before deciding it wasn’t for him. The next day, I took him straight to the Marine recruiting station; let’s just say that he enrolled voluntarily, but if he wasn’t going to finish college, he didn’t have a whole lot of choice. He went through twelve weeks of basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, with no contact from the outside world. The next time we saw him was at his graduation ceremony. Afterward, the Marines were released to their parents, who waited out on the tarmac.
When David saw me, he began to cry. He threw his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder.
“I heard your voice the whole time, Dad,” he said. “I didn’t quit.”
There is obviously a pathway to persistence. It relates heavily to the Jordan we’ve already discussed, to the man who pushed himself harder than anyone in the game, who disciplined himself with almost alarming harshness.
The pathway to persistence lies in self-discipline.
The Soul of an Army
B eing a professional, is doing all the things you love to do on the days you don’t feel like doing them.
—Julius Erving
I t was at North Carolina that Jordan first honed his sense of discipline. Here again, it was Dean Smith who influenced him, who led him to the realization that nothing is accomplished without the ability to push through hardships, to deny small yearnings for the sake of the greater goal.
“I believe that the disciplined guy can do anything,” Smith said. “He can choose to stay up late or not. He can choose to smoke ten packs of cigarettes or not. Usually, the people coming into college basketball had to have some discipline, or they wouldn’t be that good. They’ve had to say no a lot of times to other things to go work on their basketball. And players still want to be disciplined. They feel loved when they’re disciplined.”
“One day at practice, Dean Smith read a ‘Thought of the Day’,” said former North Carolina trainer Mark Davis. “The quote was ‘Discipline makes you free. ’ MJ was there. He heard it. I think that quote captures him.”
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak and esteem to all.
—George Washington
One of my all-time favorite movies is Lean on Me, a story about principal Joe Clark trying to resurrect an inner-city high
“MJwould keep driving to the hole time after time,” said former NBA player Xavier McDaniel. “You hit him and knock him down;most guys would start to pull up and take jump shots. Not MJ. He’d never stop going to the rack, no matter how many times you knocked him down.”
“With Michael Jordan you could never let your guard down,” said former NBA guard Paul Pressey. “He was so relentless you couldn’t rest for a second because he was always on the attack, always dogging you. And he did it on the bench, too. He’d study everything and when he’d get back in the game he’d have picked something up to attack you more.”
Mark Randall, a former Bulls player, recalled:“One year in an exhibition game, we were losing badly late in the game. During a time-out, MJ yelled at all of us ‘Don’t ever think about quitting tonight. If they think you’re weak now, then later in the season they’ll kill you when it counts. ’”
Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round—remember that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.
—James J. Corbett
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER
My adopted son David spent two weeks in college before deciding it wasn’t for him. The next day, I took him straight to the Marine recruiting station; let’s just say that he enrolled voluntarily, but if he wasn’t going to finish college, he didn’t have a whole lot of choice. He went through twelve weeks of basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, with no contact from the outside world. The next time we saw him was at his graduation ceremony. Afterward, the Marines were released to their parents, who waited out on the tarmac.
When David saw me, he began to cry. He threw his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder.
“I heard your voice the whole time, Dad,” he said. “I didn’t quit.”
There is obviously a pathway to persistence. It relates heavily to the Jordan we’ve already discussed, to the man who pushed himself harder than anyone in the game, who disciplined himself with almost alarming harshness.
The pathway to persistence lies in self-discipline.
The Soul of an Army
B eing a professional, is doing all the things you love to do on the days you don’t feel like doing them.
—Julius Erving
I t was at North Carolina that Jordan first honed his sense of discipline. Here again, it was Dean Smith who influenced him, who led him to the realization that nothing is accomplished without the ability to push through hardships, to deny small yearnings for the sake of the greater goal.
“I believe that the disciplined guy can do anything,” Smith said. “He can choose to stay up late or not. He can choose to smoke ten packs of cigarettes or not. Usually, the people coming into college basketball had to have some discipline, or they wouldn’t be that good. They’ve had to say no a lot of times to other things to go work on their basketball. And players still want to be disciplined. They feel loved when they’re disciplined.”
“One day at practice, Dean Smith read a ‘Thought of the Day’,” said former North Carolina trainer Mark Davis. “The quote was ‘Discipline makes you free. ’ MJ was there. He heard it. I think that quote captures him.”
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak and esteem to all.
—George Washington
One of my all-time favorite movies is Lean on Me, a story about principal Joe Clark trying to resurrect an inner-city high
Similar Books
