John Wooden's Pyramid of Success

 

Austin Kleon writes in his blog recently about creating a series of three talks he's going to give.  Typically he focuses on a specific subject or gives a "unified theory" of his ideas.  That synthesis of ideas works well in cutting things down.  But there was a problem in doing 3 talks.  The image above reflects how he's building the 3-day speech.

Conveniently, I have a trilogy of books that map nicely to 3 talks, but because each subsequent book after Steal grew out of the one before it, there’s a bit of crosstalk between them. (For example, the chapters “Something small, every day” from Show, “Every day is Groundhog Day” from Keep Going, and “Be Boring” from Steal all speak to the idea of daily practice and routine.) So, funny enough, I’m combining what I usually do for talks: narrowing each book down to an essential idea, and then building up each talk by weaving in material from all over…

What I find interesting is that he continues to spiral around nuggets of "truths" about being and working.  Where do we get ideas? (lineage, family tree, scenius). We need to have a daily routine of work (groundhog day, persistence).  What should you do with your work (share, create a community).  

It strikes me that you could edit it even further: have a persistent, daily ROUTINE.  Be CURIOUS.  Be GRATEFUL.  Build a NETWORK.    You could also add "find your lineage" or "trace family trees."  But it all boils down to a small number of key ideas.  

For some reason, it's reminding me of John Wooden's Pyramid of Success or his Seven Point Creed.  And it reminds me of the Noble 8-fold path in Buddhism.  I'm thinking now that all of them have a "pinnacle" to the pyramid... but they're all very different!

Preparing for his talks, Kleon is forced to think about what those nuggets are... and test to see which ideas are related and how related they are.  I like that reflection and restatement.  What works for me? What is true and just?  I like the reflective life... the opposite of mindlessly moving through days.

I'm thinking about this partly because I recognized recently that I have a totally new idea about relationships (from birdhouse to garden) and that gives me some insight that I didn't have before.  And because I'm approaching one full year of blogging, I've been thinking of indexing ideas and summarizing ideas.  

Wooden's "Seven Point Creed"

A timeless gift that his father gave him as a teenager was entitled “Seven Things to Do” – which Coach later coined as his famous “Seven Point Creed.”

1. Be true to yourself.
2. Help others.
3. Make each day your masterpiece.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and count and give thanks for your blessings every day.