Be Quick But Don't Hurry

I am going to continue my conversation from my first blog with more lessons from John Wooden.  Coach Wooden ran one offense all year long.  If he had a small line up he ran a fast game.  When he had Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, he ran everything through the post position.  He ran one defense - man to man.  His players would always pull up and take a 15 foot jumper on a fast break.  His thinking was to keep it simple.  If you ran too many plays, then you had to spend time practicing to learn all of them.  The more plays you ran, the less attention each play received.  However, if you only had one play on offense and one play on defense, then you could spend you entire practice perfecting it.  As a result, Coach Wooden did very little coaching in the game.  He rarely called a timeout and he didn't give his players instruction.  In fact, if they had allowed him too, he would have preferred sitting in the stands and watching the result of his player’s incredible preparation.

In almost every practice, Coach Wooden would preach, "Be quick but don't hurry."  This was the key to his team's preparation and execution of these plays.  What Coach Wooden preached was to be quick to the ball but don't rush the tempo.  He knew that prepared players would respond quickly to the opposing offense or the basketball.  However, he also knew that people who hurry things and get into a rush make mistakes because they are off balance.  This entire concept is based on quickness with balance.  This is a lost concept in the world we live in today.  We are told we have to react quickly and we should expect fast results. 

We expect it when with our sports teams.  Coaches get fired if they don’t produce quick results. 

We expect it with our transportation.  What is the quickest flight to get us from point A to point B. 

We expect it with our food.  We look for dinner recipes that are under 5 minutes.

However, if we look at reality, it tells us that rushing things gets us inferior results. 

Coach Wooden was one of the most successful coaches in history but it took him 16 years to win his first championship.  Tom Landry expected to be fired in his third season. Instead he received a 12 year contract and subsequently produced 20 consecutive winning seasons, 5 Super Bowl appearances, and 2 championships.

Car trips are long but so much is missed when you take a plane.  The experience is lost of seeing all of the sights between here and your destination.  Sometimes the journey is better than the destination.  Watch this clip from Cars. 

 

The difference between a baked potato in the microwave and a baked potato in the oven is significant.  My son recently experienced bacon in a frying pan instead of from the microwave and now he wants to cook it the old fashioned way all the time.

In life the things that take more work are the things that help to build a firm foundation on things that are better and last longer.  When we hurry we lose quality and make mistakes. 

The same is true in parenting.

Don’t complicate things.  Keep it simple.  Work on the basic things with your children every day.  Don’t get too caught up in the latest book or parenting idea.  Spend every day measuring what you expect from your child against the two most important principles of all time.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Love others as yourself (Matt. 22:37-39).  If you focus all of your parenting on these two areas your children will be prepared for the game of life.  And in doing that, be consistent and don’t make compromises. In more simple terms, look at yourself as a coach like John Wooden.  Keep your practice and preparation simple and focus on perfecting Matt. 22 principles.  In doing that, follow these simple guidelines:

1. Be purposeful with lessons and activities and look for ways to tie their activities to these two principles. 

2. Be organized and make sure you have the day prepared and focused on these principles through prayer, Bible study and application.

In doing this you will prepare them for game time – the game of life.  At that time, if done successfully one day you as a parent/coach will be able to watch from the sidelines.