“Praise, rings, watches -- I guess they're nice tokens, but I'd rather have the thing that last forever; respect for what you have done. It is important to play the game for the right reasons.” –Pete Carril
“Becoming your best is an ongoing process.” -Mike Krzyzewski
“Learning is a process that occurs over time and always integrates thinking and doing.” –Peter Senge
“If you don’t get result-oriented with the kids, you can focus on the things in the process that are important to them being successful. That is the only way they are going to compete the way you want them to.” –Nick Saban
"Our emphasis is on execution, not winning. We're talking about how we need to go out and perform today. And if you execute and you're prepared, then that takes care of it...I'm not even going to talk about failure." –Pat Summitt
“The score wasn’t the crushing issue that overrode everything else; the record didn’t mean as much as the season progressed, because we were immersed in building the inventory of skills, both attitudinal and physical, that would lead to improved execution. That was the key.” –Bill Walsh
"Each time I thought I had achieved my life’s purpose, I discovered it was only another step in my journey." –Muhammad Ali
“Actually, I never have a goal that involved number of wins — never. It would just tend to limit our potential. Suppose, for instance, that I say our goal for the coming year is to win twenty games and go the NCAA tournament. If the team wins twenty games and makes the tournament, is that the end of it?” –Mike Krzyzewski
"Success is a process that continues, not a status that you reach. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned." -Denis Waitley
"If you play to win, as I do, the game never ends." -Stan Mikita
“Wanting to win isn’t enough. You have to go through a process to improve. That takes patience, perseverance, and intentionality.” -John Maxwell
“I think the one thing we need to do differently in motivating players and helping them be successful is not to talk about results.” –Nick Saban
"Set your compass in a chosen direction and then focus your attention and efforts completely on the journey of preparation. A successful journey becomes your destination and is where your real accomplishment lies." –John Wooden
“If each of us works every day to be the best we can be on that day and then come back and do the same tomorrow, then we have a better chance of being our very best at year’s end.” –Roy Williams
“Coach Smith seldom talked about winning. Instead he talked about the things we needed to do to be successful. He never got too high after winning or too low after a loss. He taled to us about what we did well and what did poorly, regardless of the outcome of the game." -UNC All-American Bobby Jones on Coach Dean Smith
“Winning is the last of all criteria that I think you should use to determine how well you're playing. When the way you've won a game just isn't good enough, you show your players why.” –Bob Knight
"We didn't approach it as 'Let's be 13-1 in December.' We approached it as 'Let's get this game...Let's get this game...Let's get this game.' The next thing you know, we were 13-1." -Michael Jordan
"In basketball, as in life, true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way. Of course, it is no accident that things are more likely to go your way when you stop worrying about whether you’re going to win or lose and focus your full attention on what’s happening right this moment. The day I took over the Bulls, I vowed to create an environment based on the principles of selflessness and compassion." -Phil Jackson
“The most important thing to Coach Wooden was how we presented ourselves -- the effort we made -- on the court. That was first, even before the score.” –Steve Jamison
"It's difficult for young players to learn because of the great emphasis on records. Ideally, the joy and frustration of sport should come performance itself, not the score. While he is playing, the worst thing a player can think about in terms of concentration, and therefore of success, is losing. The next worst thought is of winning." -John Wooden
"We compete, not so much against an opponent, but against ourselves. The real test is this -- Did I make my best effort on every play?" -Bud Wilkinson
“Although I don't think many of our players listened to me on this one because it was so hard to do, I didn't want our players looking at the scoreboard and worrying about the score until there was five minutes left in the game. At that point managing the clock became an important factor. Otherwise I wanted them to concentrate on each possession and execute well. That was hard to do if they were preoccupied with the score and the outcome of the game. It's important to stay in the present. As coach I seldom looked as the scoreboard until the second half.” –Dean Smith
“People have to go through the process to improve. The bad thing about today’s athletes is they don’t think there is a process to go through. They think they are good from the start so there is no process to go through. Coaches are all about the process.” –Nick Saban
"The process for me has always been pure. It's been about leading and staying true -- authentic -- to those fundamental values that flowed downstream from my parents and Coach (Dean) Smith." –Michael Jordan
“When you talk about results, you create problems for yourself. If you can focus on intangible things, your players will compete better for you. They will overcome adversity better for you. Everybody wants to win a national championship. But why would you put that as one of your goals? What happens when you lose the first game? Are you going to change the goal board? The personality of your team should be what you try to get them to define, not the results.” –Nick Saban
"The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination, and desire. Achieving success and personal glory has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day you know there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal." -Jackie Joyner-Kersey
"Success and winning are not always one and the same...success is playing--or working--to the best of your ability. And winning is the by-product of living up to your highest standards for yourself, getting the most out of your natural talents, and reaching down and rooting out your drive, courage and commitment." –Joe Torre
“You're trying to get players to understand that how they play is a hell of a lot more important than whether or not they win.” –Bob Knight
"We didn’t emphasize winning as much we talked about playing well. We thought that if we played well and did certain things in a game, winning would take care of itself. If we played well and the other team had more talent and played better, there wasn’t anything we could do about it. So I always tried—and I suggest that you try—to be intrinsically motivated. Remind yourself every day what’s most important, and keep the broad view in mind. Winning is what you and your administration define it to be. It’s essential that you understand each other clearly on that point. John Wooden never talked to his players about winning." –Tom Osborne
“What I say to them is, ‘I want this team to play consistently to its potential.’ My challenge as a coach is to organize it, structure it, give the team a good enough design and the motivation to allow the team to play to its potential, as I perceive the potential to be.” –Bill Parcells
“The scoreboard has nothing to do with the process. Each possession you look across at the opponent you are defending and commit yourself to dominating that person. If you make a bad play, it’s over and you move on to the next play. It’s about individuals dominating the individuals they are playing against and our team dominating their team. If you can do this...if you can focus on the one possession and wipe out the distractions...then you will be satisfied with the result. That was the approach we took and we won the national championship.” -Nick Saban
"Success is an everyday proposition. It isn’t defined by a championship game or the day you get your diploma, get drafted by an NFL team, make the big sale, land the account of a lifetime, or get your law degree. But the key to a successful life is in the journey and the process. It’s that emphasis on the journey to success that we work on each day, step by step.” –Jim Tressel
“People judge too much by results. I’m just the opposite. I care about more than results. I’d rather make a good pitch and give up a bloop single than make a bad pitch and get an out.” -Greg Maddux
"It goes back to the process. If we want to win, what are we doing to prepare to win? How are we preparing our bodies, how are we preparing our minds? How are we preparing to be a teammate and understanding what being a teammate is? If those things take place, the big things come. We have talented players. Do we have the most? I don't know that, but I don't think we have the least. I think we know we're pretty good. Getting the mind right, and getting them to understand and care for each other and take ownership of each other, that's crucial." –Jimbo Fisher
“The point is to strive to be your best and inspire others to be their best, because it’s in the striving where you find greatness, not in the outcome.” –Jon Gordon
"Winning seem so important, but it actually is irrelevant. Having attempted to give our all is what matters -- and we are the only ones who really know the truth about our own capabilities and performance. Did we do our best at this point in our life? Did we leave all we have to give on the field, in the classroom, at the office or in the trenches? If we did, then we are a success -- at that stage in our life." –John Wooden
"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory." -Mahatma Gandhi
“You don’t win an Olympic gold medal with a few weeks of intensive training. There’s no such thing as an overnight opera sensation. Great law firms or design companies don’t spring up overnight...Every great company, every great brand, and every great career has been build in exactly the same way: bit by bit, step by step, little by little.” -Seth Godin
"Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing." -Phil Jackson
"You can't win every day, but you can succeed in fulfilling your potential as an individual and a team member." –Joe Torre
"It's not human nature to be great. It's human nature to survive, to be average and do what you have to do to get by. That is normal. When you have something good happen, it's the special people that can stay focused and keep paying attention to detail, working to get better and not being satisfied with what they have accomplished." –Nick Saban
“Real, sustainable change doesn’t happen in a moment. It’s a process.” -John Maxwell
“I directed our focus less to the prize of victory than to the process of improving-obsessing, perhaps, about the quality of our execution and the content of our thinking; that is, our actions and attitude. I knew if I did that, winning would take care of itself.” –Bill Walsh
"To me, the process is what’s most fun in football, and I’m sure it’s that way for any profession. The process of going full bore into the season and balancing your purpose with your goals and the family you love and all the things you try to accomplish—it’s a daily adventure." –Jim Tressel
