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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's 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.

-Phil Jackson

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In Basketball - As

Phil Jackson

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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's 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.

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The Most We Can Hope For Is To Create The Best Possible Conditions For Success, Then Let Go Of The Outcome. The Ride Is A Lot More Fun That Way.

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My Dad Always Had This Little Sign On His Desk: 'the Bigger Your Head Is, The Easier Your Shoes Are To Fill'. He Really Drilled That In.

I Care About Systematically Playing Basketball. If The Spacing Isn't Right, If Guys Are Standing On Top Of Each Other, If There Aren't Lanes To Be Provided, Or Rebounders Available To Offensively Rebound The Ball, Or We Don't Have Defensive Balance When A Shot Goes Up, All Of These Things Are Fundamental Basketball. I Follow It.

People Think I Would Never Take On A Team That Has No Legitimate Chance To Win A Championship, This Is One Of The Major Misconceptions About Me. Success Can Be Measured In Many Different Ways. . . . Either Way, I Would Find The Challenge Invigorating.

Tomorrow Gives A Beck'ning Hand-- I Turn My Face Away; I'll Not Invite Her To My Home-- I Only Love Today.

I Gave It My Body And Mind, But I Have Kept My Soul.

There's A Term, Agape, You Hear Used A Lot With Charismatic Religious Groups, That It's This More Pure Love Of Caring, Of Sharing Of Concern And Understanding. I Think Players And Teams Have To Come To That At Some Point In The Season To Become Successful. Maybe Not "personal Friends," But They Become Teammates At The Highest Level Of That Term.

The Sign Of A Great Player Is How Much He Elevates His Colleagues' Performance.

I Think The Most Rewarding Part Of The Job, And I Think Most Coaches Would Say It, Is Practice. If You Have It, A Very Good Practice In Which You Have 12 Guys Participate, And They Can Really Get Something Out Of It, Lose Themselves In Practice.

My First Act After Being Named Head Coach Of The Bulls Was To Formulate A Vision For The Team. I Had To Take Into Account Not Only What I Wanted To Achieve, But How I Was Going To Get There.

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I Won't Coach This Team Next Year If He Is Still Here. He Won't Listen To Anyone. I've Had It With This Kid.

You Can't Force Your Will On People. If You Want Them To Act Differently, You Need To Inspire Them To Change Themselves

Before A Vision (dream) Can Become A Reality, It Must Be Owned By Every Member Of The Group.

Coaching Is Salesmanship. Coaching Is Winning Players Over And Convincing Them They Have To Play Together. It Takes A Team Conviction To Play Together To Make Things Work.

Basketball Is A Simple Game. Your Goal Is Penetration, Get The Ball Close To The Basket, And There Are Three Ways To Do That. Pass, Dribble And Offensive Rebound.

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The Strength Of The Team Is Each Individual Member. The Strength Of Each Member Is The Team.

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I'm Not Railing, 'this Is Inadequate' Or 'this Isn't Right.' Just Show Me What Will Work.

Not Only Is There More To Life Than Basketball, There's A Lot More To Basketball Than Basketball.

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I Think People Forgot That There Are Still Ways You Can Get The Ball Inside Rather Than Just Standing There And Throwing The Ball In. You Have To Have A System That Makes All Things Work.

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Despite Their Tremendous Talent, (nba Players) Are Still, By And Large, Young Adults, Seeking Validation From An Authority Figure, And There Is No Greater Authority Figure On A Team Than The Coach. Needless To Say, In Today's Warped, Self-indulgent Climate, Too Many Players Couldn't Care Less About Appeasing The Coach.

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Good Teams Become Great Ones When The Members Trust Each Other Enough To Surrender The Me For The We.

Make Your Work Your Play And Your Play Your Work.

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