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Initiative. "Make a decision! Failure to act is often the biggest failure of all."

For me this was never a problem playing basketball at UCLA.  All I ever wanted to do was play BB at UCLA.  Today I think players are different, they desire the NBA.  I watched how Coach Wooden handled different players who needed a little prodding.  Some he would humor and some he would push.  While he treated everyone fairly in regards to opportunity to work into the line-up, he realized everyone had different backgrounds.  He would make point of getting well educated in the background of players especially their parents.  He had a pretty handle on how each player should be approached, pushed, humored, etc. before he even coached them.  I have no doubt he passed on many great players just "because they might not fit into our system."  On the other hand he felt with the bench, which he called "the coach's equalizer," he could mold a player if that player had the potential to fit properly into the team's needs.-- Lynn Shackelford

Initiative is the action that takes us from thought to reality.  It is the process of pulling the trigger.  We live in  a world when it's all said and done there is a lot more said than done.  Coach Wooden  understood that planning and preparation is important, but at some point, we throw the ball up and the game begins.  If you have a goal or a project in your life, it can benefit from initiative today.  You may not be able to complete the project, but without a doubt there's something you can do right now that will make a difference.  If you don't take action today, you won't be in position tomorrow to cross the finish line. --Jim Stovall

Special thanks to Lynn Shackelford and Jim Stovall for sharing this block from Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success.

Lynn Shackelford's Bio

High School
Played under coach Kale Canfield at Burroughs HS in Burbank, CA. . . 1965 prep All-American and southern California CIF “Player of the Year” . . . Averaged 25.5 points a game as a senior, with a high of 43 points in two games ... Two-year basketball captain.

UCLA
Freshman (1965-66)  - started on the unbeaten Bruin frosh team, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lucius Allen and Ken Heitz . . .Averaged 20.9 points per game . . .Team was 21-0 . . . On Nov. 27, 1965, in the first game in Pauley Pavilion, the Bruin Freshman defeated the Varsity, 75-60 (the UCLA varsity were the two-time defending NCAA Champions).

Varsity (1967-69) – a three-year starting forward for legendary Bruin head coach John Wooden, Shackelford played on three consecutive UCLA NCAA Championship teams in 1967, ’68 and ’69 . . . During his varsity career, the Bruins lost only two games – 1967 (30-0), 1968 (29-1) and 1969 (29-1), for a three-year record of 88-2 . . . In 1967 earned the Bruin Bench Award for most improvement in all-around play and mental attitude (from the previous year). . . In 1967 and ’68, awarded the Bob (Ace) Calkins Memorial Trophy as the team’s top foul shooter. . . 1968 Final Four All-Tournament team. . . In his UCLA career (90 games), Shackelford averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds and shot .482 from the field and .729 from the foul line.

NBA
A seventh round NBA draft pick by San Diego, Shackelford played one year in the ABA with Miami.

Career After Basketball
7 years announcer with the Lakers and Chick Hearn
10 years of College Basketball including ESPN, Pac 10 Game of the Week, NCAA Tournament for CBS and NBC Sports.

27 years in the golf business including 11 operating Sinaloa Golf Course in Simi Valley.  Currrently working at VP Development with Touchstone Golf. Resides in Ojai, with wife Daralyn.

Jim Stovall has been a national champion Olympic weightlifter, the President of the Emmy Award-winning Narrative Television Network, and a highly sought after author and platform speaker.  He is the author of the best selling book, The Ultimate Gift, which is now a major motion picture starring James Garner and Abigail Breslin.

Steve Forbes, president and CEO of Forbes magazine, says, “Jim Stovall is one of the most extraordinary men of our era.”

Please click here to view his full bio.