Chris Brady shares his top 10 reasons people quit worthy endeavors. Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady could have easily quit in the early days of learning leadership and community building; however, they didn't and the rest is, as they say, history in the making. The LIFE Business is the result of years of effort, hard work, and persistence to build the best compensation plan and leadership community in the profession. It will change your life. Here is Chris's article.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 11:23 AM EST

Updated: Monday, December 17, 2012 11:28 AM EST

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Ben Franklin created passive income streams to allow himself the free time to live his legacy. So many today are so busy making a life that they have no time left to make a difference. The LIFE Business and LIFE Business Compensation Plan are changing that. Orrin Woodward dreamed of providing an opportunity for anyone willing to work hard to get ahead. Ben Franklin worked hard and smart and he got ahead, but not just for himself. Ben helped others run their own business just like LIFE Team. Here's the article.

Over 300 years ago, in the city of Boston, a port town in the burgeoning American colonies, a baby was born on the frontier edge of the British empire, whose impact on history boggles the imagination, named Benjamin Franklin, but later in life, praised as  “the first great American.”  With superhuman exploits in business, science, politics, diplomacy, and nation building, as a Founding Father, the fascination with Franklin will continue indefinitely, at least as long as history is written.  Much has been written, and rewritten, on the achievements of this great man, but surprisingly, little has been written on his economic engine, that allowed this polymathic genius the leisure to dabble in his many areas of interest.  It’s not too much to say, that Franklin’s greatest discovery personally, was a forerunner of today’s modern franchising, allowing him the financial independence that led to nearly all of his other discoveries.  Without the freedom from toil, necessitated by the need to maintain life, Franklin would be remembered as little more than a colonial printer, but through his understanding of the principles of wealth, learned through countless years of self study, Franklin created a printing network that spanned throughout American colonies.  It was this monumental achievement, arguably the first ever franchise model, that sparked Franklin’s meteoric rise to worldwide fame, displaying what a free man, one no longer bound by the enervating ennui of life, can achieve by investing his newly won freedom in the service of humanity.  A cursory review of the highlights of Franklin’s life will serve as proof what free men can do with free time:

1. Set up the world’s first franchise type model, freeing himself from day to day work routine, typically necessary in order to make a living.
2. Developed systems for paving, cleaning and lighting city streets.
3. Introduced new trees, cereals and fertilizers to America.
4. Invented swim fins, improving swimming speeds and the famed Franklin Stove, improving the heat efficiency of wood fires.
5. Conceived and recruited the formation of a citizen’s fire brigade, reducing the damage incurred by fires.
6. The founding of an academy that later became the University of Pennsylvania.
7. The organization of city and province defenses during the Indian wars.
8. Conceived and founded America’s first public library.
9. Discovered electricity and its nature through countless experiments performed in his free time, making him a world renown scientific figure.
10. Invented bifocals, created concept of daylight savings, and charted the Gulf Stream temperatures of the Atlantic.
11. As an author, he wrote and published Poor Richard’s Almanac, one of the best selling publications in early American history.  His autobiography has become a classic in literature, influencing millions of people with his message of personal improvement, public service, and philanthropy.
12. As postmaster general, he revolutionized the mail service delivery of the colonies, by implementing home delivery and one day service.
13.  As a later revolutionary politician, he played an active part in the creation of nearly every major document, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the war alliance with France, and the peace treaty with England.  In fact, he was the only party to sign all four.
14. Shortly before his death, Franklin accepted the presidency of a society formed to end the stain of slavery in America.

These achievements are enough to satisfy a dozen men of renown, but nearly unfathomable when one ponders that all of this was achieved by a run-away youth starting with no wealth in colonial America.  The question is, how could anyone find the time to perform all of these activities, while excelling in every field? The answer is a combination of disciplined time management and a relentless pursuit of knowledge, and the freedom obtained through his franchising business model. Franklin learned early the multiplying effect of good leadership, leading himself through a rigorous program of self development, even, for a period of time, becoming a vegetarian in order save money to invests in more books. Franklin fed his brain before his belly. But he didn’t stop there, Franklin studied the greatest influencers of his age, seeking to develop the right mix of charm, posture, and tact to go along with his unquestioned character, becoming a leader of leaders. In fact, Franklin developed one of the first personal development programs, freely sharing his success system in his autobiography, and in his yearly Poor Richard’s Almanac, loaded with witty sayings, pearls of financial wisdom, and solid leadership thoughts.  Franklin was a hungry student, studying principles of character, task and relationships to improve his leadership, writing, “Not a tenth part of wisdom was my own.”  Franklin’s personal leadership program is conveyed best in Launching a Leadership Revolution, Chris Brady’s and the author’s Wall Street Journal number one best seller, “So Benjamin Franklin did what we have been discussing in this chapter: he deliberately set out upon a program of personal growth. He selected thirteen virtues he felt worthy of his attention and organized a demanding schedule of improvement and tracking. He would work on one virtue for four weeks at a time, recording his progress or lack thereof, then move on to the next virtue, repeating the cycle over and over throughout several years.”  Even though Franklin had no formal education, he was one of the most educated men in America, teaching himself English, Italian, and French, displaying a voracious hunger to learn that he maintained his entire life. Franklin leadership training may have been the most significant development in his life, since all the other achievements flowed from his mastery of self and others, through leadership.

When Franklin was still a boy, he apprenticed with his elder brother, James, in a printing house. Learning the ins and outs of the newspaper and printing business, while actively educating himself with his free hours, many times, reading until late in the night.  Several books, like Plutarch, Defoe, and Mather impacted him greatly.  His world-view, developed from his readings, seeing history as the stage in which great men and women acted, included in this, was that virtuous men and women bettered societies, that individuals counted in the making of history, and that fortune favored the bold, at least on earth anyhow. Franklin set upon a course to become one of these great men, history would record that he was not disappointed in his quest. Franklin’s rise in business began at the early age of 16, when he ran away from his hometown of Boston, tired of the abuse from his older brother, starting work at a Philadelphia print shop.  In less than three years, Franklin built a reputation in Philadelphia as a diligent worker with a witty pen, a man on the move up, becoming well known as a prominent printer in the young city.  Franklin’s world-view is best displayed in his decision, at only 42 years of age, to hand over his successful printing enterprise in order to focus on his many areas of interests, including science, politics, and local community affairs, writing to his mother, “I would rather have it said, ‘He lived usefully,’ than ‘He died rich’.”  Franklin received his wish, dying one of the most influential people of the 18th century, while never having to work another day in his life.  Franklin used his new found time, not for personal laziness, but for public usefulness.

Franklin could afford his early retirement because he had conceived of an ingenious plan to aid journeyman printers, helping them to own their own businesses.  In a true spirit of win-win, the 26 year old Franklin, in 1731, was offered the position of South Carolina’s official printer for its public records, an opportunity that he declined because he didn’t wish to leave Philadelphia.  But, instead of rejecting the offer outright, Franklin suggested an alternative plan, proposing to the Charleston officials that they hire one of his journeyman, Thomas Whitmarsh.  Franklin would sponsor the project, helping the journeyman with the press equipment, fonts, funds, not to mention mentorship, while Whitmarsh would run the day to day operations in Charleston.  All parties profited by this unique arrangement.  South Carolina received a top notch journeyman, trained under the tutelage of Franklin; Whitmarsh received capital and mentorship, both factors in short supply in the colonies, allowing him the opportunity to own a business; lastly, Franklin, received one third of the profits for six years, after which, Whitmarsh could either buy out Franklin’s ownership interest or continue with his current financial arrangement. Since Franklin had capital, but little time, while the journeymen had time, but little capital, this arrangement benefitted both sides of the partnership, providing to each other, what each on their own lacked, a true example of a win-win trade.  Franklin’s franchise marketing program expanded across the colonial cities, he looked for hungry, sober, hard working journeyman to be his long distant proxies, helping to build many sister newspapers, that dotted the colonial landscape, following the leadership of his Pennsylvania Gazette masthead.  Over time, Franklin’s expansive printing empire reached all the way from Hartford in the north, and as far south as Antigua, with Lancaster, New York, and New Haven, too mention just a few, in between the two poles of influence, an impressive accomplishment in this largely agrarian society.  In fact, by 1755, eight of the fifteen newspapers printed in colonial America were part of Franklin’s powerful conglomerate.  Although not all his partnerships made money, most of them prospered under his leadership.  Franklin forged partnerships for over fifty years, creating a residual income stream that left him free to pursue his purpose, no longer enslaved to monetary want.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:13 AM EST

Updated: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 7:16 AM EST

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In this article, Orrin Woodward shares his thoughts on Compensated Communities. Learning is great and earning is great, but imagine how powerful the LIFE Business is when it combines the best learning with the best earning. It almost seems crazy to think about. For instance, imagine if universities, instead of taking tens of thousands of dollars per year, paid people tens of thousands of dollars per year to learn. How much more learning would be accomplished when there is a direct reward for learning and leading? This is the LIFE Business first year results were so impressive. Here is Orrin's article. 

Social Capital

During the Progressive Era, L. J. Hanifan, a practical reformer and visionary, defined a new conceptual invention, terming it “social capital,” writing:

. . . those tangible substances that count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit. . . . The individual is helpless socially, if left to himself. . . . If he comes into contact with his neighbor, and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which may immediately satisfy his social needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community. The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors.

Tribes of Trust

Hanifan’s social capital, in networking, is built through “tribes of trust.” Leaders build trust within the tribe and trust builds a culture of reciprocity (the Golden Rule) within the community. Reciprocity creates speed within the tribe, because people learn that deposits made into the community will be reciprocated, even without a ledger account. The tribe, in other words, through building trust, creates a culture of reciprocity, which, like a tide raising all ships, lifts everyone within the tribe. Yogi Berra’s defined reciprocity by saying, “If you don’t go to his funeral, he won’t go to yours.” Perhaps a better definition is from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, “A society characterized by generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. If we don’t have to balance every exchange instantly, we can get a lot more accomplished. Trustworthiness lubricates life. Frequent interaction among a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized reciprocity.”

The best compensated community builders, therefore, build “tribes of trust” where reciprocity flows throughout the organization. Trust produces reciprocity, which builds speed and growth. The fastest growing tribes have leaders who serve their communities, trusting that this service will be reciprocated. In fact, its the leaders who must initiate the service model to others. When the tribe sees the leaders example, it reciprocates service throughout the organization. Those who serve, in other words, deserve. Leaders without the tribe’s trust will not maintain their following. Abraham Lincoln aptly stated, “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.” When the tribes discovers the leader isn’t authentic, the culture reverts to the all too familiar selfish motives.

Those Who Serve, Deserve

Unfortunately, networking is filled with examples of fast growing communities which eventually crash and burn. For when leaders forget that tribes are not sheep to be sheared, but rather people to be served, the crash is imminent. Great leaders are servants, period. Servant leaders achieve results when their groups reciprocate the love invested unconditionally into them. The tribe serves others, not by compulsion, but through compassion. Effectively, people respond in kind when they experience the time deposits from the leaders. Not surprisingly, the level of reciprocation is equivalent to the level of leadership currently inside of the person. For example, a true leader isn’t going to remain passive when multiple deposits are made into his life and business by up-line leaders.

Culture of Reciprocity

In essence, the best kept secret in community building is its culture of reciprocity. With the breakdown of family, friendship, and faith throughout Western Society, compensated community building tribes provide a sense of belonging and safety for thousands of previously isolated people. Compensated communities isn’t just a way to make money, its a force for good in a world declining from lack of community. Most people feel something is missing in their life, even though few understand the angst traces back to lack of community roots. Putnam, again, emphasizes this point, “Social capital turns out to have forceful, even quantifiable effects on many different aspects of our lives. What is at stake is not merely warm, cuddly feeling or frissons of community pride. We shall review hard evidence that our schools and neighborhoods don’t work so well when community bonds slacken, that our economy, our democracy, and even our health and happiness depend on adequate stocks of social capital.”

Compensated Communities: Have Fun, Make Money, and Make a Difference

A healthy compensated community tribe has three attributes:

1. Tribes have fun
2. Tribes makes money
3. Tribes makes a difference

Having fun and making money are different sides of the same coin. In truth, the tribes making the most money seem to have the most fun. Remember, people join the tribe for many reasons, with most members never intending to become wealthy. Instead, they join because of the the fun and fellowship offered within the community. Strikingly, more people quit communities due to hurt feelings than from lack of profit. Tribal leaders must never forget this point. Make joining the community fun and a person will never lack volunteers who desire association with the tribe. People aren’t looking for another job, but would love to find a fun-loving community who are accomplishing something with their lives.

Ultimately, the real goal of community building should be to make a difference. Having fun and making money are great, but unless people grow personally, the tribal experience will seem shallow. One of the greatest joys for leaders is when a teammate has a personal breakthrough. Perhaps he was struggling with his marriage, blaming his wife for the situation. However, through reading, listening and association, he realizes it wasn’t his wife, but his attitude that created the problem. Typically, truths are discovered in communities through comparing a person’s life to the examples around him, not being hit upside the head by his leader. Community building, done properly, provides a fun-loving tribe of purpose-driven encouragers for people to experience acceptance and belonging. Over time, the new community’s models of servant leadership give a person permission and the courage to confront and change himself. Essentially, compensated communities are a platform for people to have fun, make money, and make a difference. What a noble profession we belong to. Sincerely, Orrin Woodward

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:52 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, December 6, 2012 7:58 AM EST

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Orrin Woodward shares his thoughts on society. Should it be led the the State or Communities? In other words, involuntary or voluntary? The LIFE Business is a group of entrepreneurs that believe in freedom and the right for people to be rewarded based upon their efforts. Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady are NY Times best-selling authors and teach freedom to tens of thousands around North America. What dream do you have in your heart that the LIFE Business could help bring out?

 The Desire For Community

The more I read, the more I realize the true secret to success in business and life is related to the strength of relationships within a person’s community. The myth of rugged isolated individualism, although enduring, is, in truth, only a myth. Economic, educational, even political effectiveness are all improved when people work together. Please don’t misunderstand me, I haven’t turned to economic communism; however, I do comprehend better than previously how so many people have been drawn into this evil illogical doctrine. Specifically, most people, if given the choice between being alone or in community, will choose community, even if the association is Biblically wrong, thus communism’s growth. In fact, a cursory look at organizations as diverse as communism, the mafia, and gangs will exhibit the enduring need for community.

If community is essential to human beings, then the question is: How do we incorporate community into a society without sacrificing life, liberty, and property? Since liberty cannot exist where the State dictates, the idea of community and freedom precludes State control. Therefore, free communities are misnomers unless they are voluntary organizations. However, although the non-involvement of the State is essential, it isn’t sufficient to create community. The other side of the equation is for people to learn how to work within a community setting. Consequently, the atomistic rugged individualism of American myth must be replaced by men and women who work within a Biblical framework of ordered liberty and love. In other words, the greedy, self-centered capitalist is not a true picture of a free-enterprise Biblical community. In fact, this caricature of American freedoms pinpoints what is plaguing America – the loss of community roots and liberty (Social Power), instead, replaced by today’s (State Power) crony capitalism.

State Power vs Social Power

Murray Rothbard, the late dean of Austrian Economists, wrote in Conceived in Liberty:

My own basic perspective on the history of man, and a fortiori on the history of the United States, is to place central importance on the great conflict which is eternally waged between Liberty and Power, a conflict, by the way, which was seen with crystal clarity by the American revolutionaries of the eighteenth century. I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the highest political good), but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity. Out of liberty, then, stem the glories of civilized life. But liberty has always been threatened by the encroachments of power, power which seeks to suppress, control, cripple, tax, and exploit the fruits of liberty and production. Power, then, the enemy of liberty, is consequently the enemy of all the other goods and fruits of civilization that mankind holds dear. And power is almost always centered in and focused on the central repository of power and violence: the state. With Albert Jay Nock, the twentieth-century American political philosopher, I see history as centrally a race and conflict between “social power” — the productive consequence of voluntary interactions among men — and state power. In those eras of history when liberty — social power — has managed to race ahead of state power and control, the country and even mankind have flourished. In those eras when state power has managed to catch up with or surpass social power, mankind suffers and declines.

In sum, wherever State Power flourishes, Social Power declines. Thankfully, however, the reverse is true as well. By standing on the intellectual shoulders of both Nock and Rothbard, we see that societies can be organized around two competing philosophical choices:

1. State Power: Top down external discipline and the subsequent loss of liberty endured.
2. Social Power: Bottom up internal discipline and the subsequent ordered liberty enjoyed.

Restoring Social Power – Volunteer Communities

The first option (State Power) is the real-life history of America since around the Civil War, with State Power moving ahead and Social Power in subsequent decline. Since 1913, however, the battle has become a full-fledged drubbing, with State Powers triumphing in the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Income Tax amendment, and the democratic election of Senators. In truth, it’s hard to fathom a worse mix of legislation (as related to Social Power) in one year, in one country, than what occurred in America in that disastrous year of 1913. In other words, 1913 wasn’t just (to use Oliver DeMille’s term) a freedom shift, it was a freedom rout. DeMille’s soon-to-be-released book 1913 will elaborate further on these fateful events.

The second option (Social Power) is America’s (and the West’s) best hope for freedom. America needs a community restoration, starting, not from the top down (State Power), but rather, from the bottom up (Social Power), in order to revitalize America. Social Power is fueled by social capital – a sociological concept which refers to the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective results in any endeavor – to paraphrase Robert Putnam, in is classic Bowling Alone. Putnam explains the key role of social capital,  “A society characterized by generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. If we don’t have to balance every exchange instantly, we can get a lot more accomplished. Trustworthiness lubricates life. Frequent interaction among a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized reciprocity.” Furthermore, Putnam argues, “Does social capital have salutary effects on individuals, communities, or even entire nations? Yes, an impressive and growing body of research suggest that civic connections help make us healthy, wealthy, and wise. Living without social capital is not easy, whether one is a villager in southern Italy or a poor person in the American inner city or a well-heeled entrepreneur in a high-tech district.” Social capital matters, in other words, both personally, professionally, and politically.

Converting Dreams into Realities Through Communities

Putnam goes on to list five specific areas where the trust and understanding inured by social capital helps translate aspirations into realities:

1. Social capital allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily through improved teamwork.
2. Social capital greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothly through improved trust.
3. Social capital helps widen the awareness of fellow citizens that their fates are intertwined through improved understanding.
4. Social capital serves as conduits for the flow of helpful information and resources to accomplish community and individual goals.
5. Social capital improves individual lives through psychological and biological processes. In fact, numerous studies suggest lives that are rich in social capital cope with trauma and illnesses significantly more effectively.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:52 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 7:59 AM EST

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Orrin Woodward shares a glimpse of his chidhood in this fascinating article on the American Dream. Every child grows up with dreams. Sadly, most are beaten out of the by the time they are 25 years old. Orrin, however, is different. He refused to give up his dream and because of that, many are accomplishing their goals and dreams within the LIFE Business. I encourage everyone to read Orrin's Top 100 Leadership book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE, if he or she desires to chase the dream. Here is the article.

The American Dream
When I was a young, growing up in the small town of Columbiaville, Michigan, I loved watching and competing in sports. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat taught me so many lessons that I applied to life. In fact, I believe the lessons I learned from watching, playing, and modeling my favorite athletes helped form who I am today. Furthermore, because of my sports heroes, I became an avid reader of sports biographies, learning many of their secrets to success.

I had no idea how instrumental the hundreds of books read of my sports heroes would affect me. In truth, it wasn’t until I began teaching leadership for a profession that I realized what an impact my early reading had on my life. The numerous stories of young men who dreamed, struggled, and persevered until they had their victory, taught me that anything is possible in life if one is willing to work hard enough and endure through the expected setbacks.

Perhaps I was naive and should have known better, but my meritocratic world-view was shaped by my playing, watching and reading about competitive sports – one of the last remaining bastions of a performance based meritocracy.  In other words, in the competitive arena of sports, no points are given because of your previous record, your family’s background, or your ability to talk smack. Each game has pre-defined rules, an impartial referee, and competitors who begin equal with the right to become unequal based upon their performance as individuals and as teams.

In high school, I suffered from severe low self-esteem, constantly viewing others as better than myself. In many ways they were better, however, I carried it to the extreme, typically defeating myself before the competition even began. It’s hard to hide from the scoreboard, especially when you are a runner and wrestler. All eyes are upon you and you cannot blame anyone else for a lackluster performance. The scoreboard provides the facts for both victories or defeats.

Although starting late in both endeavors (junior year), I rapidly improved through hard work, great coaching, and experience, ultimately receiving several awards – most improved wrestler my senior year  (losing 5-2 to the national record holder for pins in a high school career),  All-Genesee County in Cross-Country, and anchoring the 2 mile relay in track that set the school record.  I say all of this, not to relive high school sports, but to share a key principle learned. It’s only through the willingness to endure painful experiences, persistent practices, and constructive feedback that a person can separate himself from the crowd. Simply put, meritocracy demands performance.

With my foundational principles formed along with a Manufacturing Systems Engineering degree from GMI-EMI (now Kettering), I boldly entered into my professional career. I believed through the application of the same principles that had helped me achieve success in competitive sports, that I would quickly rise to the top at GM. However, nothing could have been further from the truth.

It’s not that my career didn’t start well enough. For in less than three years of working full time, I was awarded four patents, was in the process of winning a national technical benchmarking award and received a 19% raise. Additionally, my division committed to covering all my tuition expenses for the #2 nationally ranked MBA program though University of Michigan. I was living the life I had dreamed, being on the fast-track at General Motors and developing a tight relationship with the Director of Engineering of our multi-billion dollar Delphi division.

So What Went Wrong?
One of the most painful moments in a person’s life is when he realizes there is no port of call for his ship of dreams. In other words, even people who work hard, waiting for their ship to come in, will find they waited their life away. The old plan of working hard, getting good grades, going to college, and getting a good job with benefits is DEAD! In fact, it’s rotting corpse has been buried for years.

My personal realization of this fact came when Laurie was pregnant with our first child. Naively, I went to my boss and explained to him my dilemma. Laurie was working as an accountant, but we both wanted her to be a stay-at-home mother to raise our family. I asked my boss what I needed to do in order to be promoted to 8th level and receive a company car. I knew it would take this level of income to fulfill the plan of having Laurie home.

One can imagine my shock when I was told that I was only 25, and no matter how hard I worked, or what I accomplished, I would not be promoted until at least 30 years of age. Moreover, our division had over 100 extra 8th levels already so being promoted at 30 was a long shot. Talk about a bubble being burst! This was a blow below the belt that I was completely not expecting. I felt like a rat in the proverbial rat race, running around the maze as fast as I could with dead ends everywhere I looked. I vowed to get out of the rat race, no matter how difficult or painful.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 8:52 AM EST

Updated: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 8:56 AM EST

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John Wooden was the greatest basketball coach in NCAA history. His teams were known for hustle, teamwork, and competition. LIFE Business Founder Orrin Woodward is known for similar qualities. He refuses to be outworked; he loves to work as part of a team; and, he loves honest competition. Orrin has said many times, true competition creates cooperation. What team are you part of? Perhaps, like John Wooden and Orrin Woodward, it's time for you to start playing to win.

On October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, into a Dutch-Irish family, John Robert Wooden was born.  The farmhouse, where he grew up, had few of the modern day conveniences, like running water or electricity, but young John was given something much greater by his parents, an unbeatable work ethic.  In Wooden’s nugget filled book Wooden, written with Steve Jamison, he reveals the secret to his superhuman work ethic, “My dad, Joshua, had great influence on my own personal definition of success, . . . . one of the things that he tried to get across to me was that I should never try to be better than someone else.  Then he always added, ‘But Johnny, never cease trying to be the best you can be. That is under your control. The other isn’t.’ . . . . The concept that success is mine when I work my hardest to become my best and that I alone determine whether I do so, became central to my life and affected me in a most profound manner.”  Wooden may not have won every contest he entered, but he was rarely, if ever, outworked.  This legendary work ethic, one of the cornerstones of Wooden’s success, led a farm boy from the fields of Indiana, to UCLA, in Los Angeles, leading to ten NCAA titles in his last twelve years, including a record seven in a row.  There are many qualities that can be learned from John Wooden, but central to his philosophy and life was his mastery of his profession by the consistent and persistent work ethic over time.

As a player at Purdue University, Wooden was not blessed physically with a Michael Jordan frame, but he maximized what he was given, quickness and speed, through sheer determination and work ethic.  In fact, Piggy Lambert, Purdue’s coach for 29 years, said that Johnny was the best-conditioned athlete that he ever coached in any sport.  Strong words of praise from Lambert, who won 11 Big Ten basketball titles as head coach at Purdue. Wooden said, “Later, I applied the same philosophy to our teams: focus all your effort on what is within your power to control. Conditioning is one of these things. How your mind functions is another.”  Wooden’s legendary work ethic, led Purdue to the 1932 Helm’s Foundation unofficial national championship, and him into the college hall of fame.  But to Wooden, the fame of winning was secondary to the inner peace of knowing that one has done his personal best.  Wooden’s definition of success exemplifies this, “Success is the peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”  In other words, one can lose, but still win, if he did his personal best.  On the other hand, one can win, but still lose, if he didn’t do his personal best.  This philosophy imbued all of his teams with an unquenchable drive for excellence night in and night out.  Wooden believed that the external scoreboard was secondary to the internal scoreboard, where players competed more against themselves, rather than the competition, to reach their potential, he explained, “Championships were never the cake; they were the icing. Doing our best was the cake.”

Wooden coached high school basketball for eleven years before moving into the NCAA by accepting the head coaching position at Indiana State.  After two years there, in which Wooden led his Indian State team to the NAIB finals, Wooden, in 1948, accepted the head coaching position at UCLA.   He was led to believe that UCLA would soon have a state of the art basketball facility to support his efforts.  However, the promise wasn’t fulfilled until nearly seventeen years later, forcing his UCLA teams to practice under less than optimal conditions.  To say that the UCLA facilities were outdated would be an understatement, with many modern high schools having better training facilities. It’s hard to imagine, but Wooden’s future UCLA dynasty practiced basketball on the third floor of the old Mens Gymnasium, the same floor that both the gymnastic and wrestling programs used for their practices, many times simultaneously.  In fact, the place was infamously labeled the B.O. barn, from its lack of ventilation along with the inherent smells emanating from hard working athletes.   Wooden shares, “For sixteen years, I helped our managers sweep and mop the floor every day before practice because of the dust stirred up from the other activities. These were hardship conditions, not only for the basketball team, . . . You could have written a long list of excuses why UCLA shouldn’t have been able to develop a good basketball team there.  Nevertheless, the B.O. barn was where we built teams that won national championships in 1964 and 1965. You must take what is available and make the very most of it.”   When one studies Wooden, a recurring theme seems to be, that whatever the situation, by applying disciplined hard work, it will be conquered. Instead of waiting for conditions to improve, thus helping the team improve, Wooden focused on improving the team through a spirited effort that eventually led to improved surroundings.

Few recognize, that it took Wooden sixteen years to put all the puzzle pieces together, launching the dynasty in 1964 with UCLA’s first NCAA title.  Most people are too impatient with the success process, applying hard work for a day, a week, or maybe even a year, expecting to be a champion without the full 10,000 hour investment.  How many people are willing to invest sixteen years, with no titles, yet remain as committed, if not more so, at the start of year seventeen?  But Wooden, in his mind, viewed things differently, his teams were winning long before their 1964 NCAA title, because his teams strived to reach their full potential. Wooden, in his book, Wooden on Leadership, also written with Jamison, describes his philosophy, “There is a standard higher than merely winning the race: Effort is the ultimate measure of success. . . . When it’s over, I want your heads up. And there’s only one way your heads can be up – that’s to give it your best out there, everything you have. . . . To my way of thinking, when you give your total effort – everything you have – the score can never make you a loser. And when you do less, it can’t somehow magically turn you into a winner.”   For most champions, it’s that extra effort, when everyone else is out of gas, that makes the difference between victory and defeat.  Wooden tapped into the inner motivation of his players, helping them to fulfill their potential, leading to practices that were more intense than the majority of the games.

Over and over in life, one finds that hard work creates its own luck.  Examine the chain of events, leading to Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul Jabbar), one of the all-time most recruited collegiate athletes, attending UCLA.  Because Wooden instilled pride into his teams, expecting superior work ethic, regardless of the practice conditions at the B.O. barn, UCLA overcome the hardships, winning two consecutive championships.  Because they reached the finals, the games were aired on T.V. before a national audience.  One of the interested fans, who watched the games was a young Lew Alcindor, who became intrigued with the burgeoning UCLA dynasty.  Alcindor interest in UCLA led to a commitment from the athletic director, J. D. Morgan, to finish building the Pauley Pavilion by the fall of 1965, in time for the basketball season.  Another case of L.U.C.K. – Laboring Under Correct Knowledge striking again.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 4:56 PM EST

Updated: Friday, November 30, 2012 4:59 PM EST

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George Guzzardo continues to produce thought provoking content. He is a wonderful example of the self-directed educational model in the LIFE Business taught by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady. Where else can you enjoy the benefits of the LIFE Business Compensation Plan while learning key nuggets on the importance of natural law? Members, in a word, earn while they learn! Here is George's article.

My association with Orrin Woodward and the LIFE business has brought out a striking revelation that our school curriculums no longer teach pertinent history to our culture.  Just try to have an educated discussion with most people. They have no interest in the subject because they cannot connect the relevance to our modern times or we have been sold a premise that the foundational principles do not apply in the age of relativism.  Is this a deliberate attempt to up root our culture? In the past, many Americans were well versed in republican (separation of power) principles.  In the past, College graduates had studied the history of the ancient republics, with a particular view toward the causes of their declines.  

The Founding Patriots turned to John Locke's writings about natural – law. John Locke wrote ‘Two Treatises of Government' published in 1690 that has been through about a hundred printings in at least fourteen languages. His main premise was that man lives under Natural Law and Liberty is interrelated with Private Property.  He felt that man is obliged by nature to live in society. His first principle was clear when he wrote, “God having made Man such a Creature that, in his own Judgment, it was not good for him to be alone.”  His second principle was that every man has property, which are his own person and his work.  “As much as man tills. plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product of, so much is his Property.  “God has given us all things richly.”  Cato wrote, “To live securely, happily, and independently is the end and effect of Liberty… and real or fancied necessity alone makes Men the Servants, Followers, and Creatures of one another.  And therefore… Property is the best Support of Independency so passionately desired by all Men.” A combination of these values has led to our current state as a free and prosperous nation.  But, watching the current economic indicators, how long will our freedom last?

Thomas Jefferson warned, “When all Government, domestic and foreign, in little and great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one Government to another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.”  With the lack of understanding it appears that the people are being drawn to Washington for answers. Most of the Founders being self - educated in History warned of the implications of our ignorance to those principles that our country was founded on. The Framers of our Constitution were well versed in the history of ancient Greece and Rome, of confederations and republics.  Their sense was that history was legacy.  They looked at experience as their only guide. I often wonder how those men were so wise and knowledgeable and we with our extensive school system have no awareness of these timeless treasures.  Professor David Lutz and Professor Charles Hyneman studied the intellectual influences of the American Founding by reviewing 15,000 items from books, pamphlets, and newspaper articles written be the delegates to the Constitutional Convention.  Their references included: 34% from the Bible, 22% from Montesquieu, Locke and Hume, 18% from Bollingbrooke, Milton, and Sydney, 11% from Blackstone (British Common Law), and 8% from the classics that included Plutarch, Cicero, Aristotle, and Plato.

Today, it appears that Government is used as a problem solving device, rightfully so since we have not been taught the lessons of the past. When did we lose ownership of the words opportunity, responsibility and work ethic? We can learn from Theodore Roosevelt who said, “The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.” Pick up a copy of ‘Leadership and Liberty’ from best selling authors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady and let your journey toward understanding Historical principles begin.  God Bless George Guzzardo

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:58 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2012 8:02 AM EST

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Bob Rasmussen, LIFE leader, shares a heartwarming story of his daughter and Orrin Woodward's PDCA process. The beautiful thing about Orrin's Top 100 All-Time Leadership Book is its practicality. Every principle he teaches can be used immediately to improve. Bob shares an example from his daughter's life. The LIFE Business is filled with people who have changed their lives by applying LIFE principles to their life. Here's the article.

As I was reading ORRIN WOODWARDS most recent outstanding book “RESOLVED” I could not help but reflect on the power of the success principles taught within this masterpiece. I am sure all those who read and apply this book to their future will be forever changed for the good! This book has become the foundation of the LIFE education system and the recently released MENTAL FITNESS CHALLENGE which is experiencing explosive participation right out of the gates!!

I would like to share a short story of the power of getting and applying the right principles to life. I am in to my fourth read/study of the book and chapters 5-6 got me thinking of a very successful outcome from using a rather simple principle called PDCA or PLAN, DO, CHECK, ADJUST which came from the engineering world to systematize improvements in a given area. The genius of WOODWARD shines through as he teaches that this principle applies to all people as well and can be used in any area for positive change. I had the good fortune to be exposed to this LIFE changing information years ago through the TEAM leadership development company. The basic premise of the PDCA principle is that anything we would like to change or improve can be tackled with this proven method. Once the area is identified we simply, make a plan of action, do the plan, check our results, adjust the plan based on our results and continue to cycle this process until we hit the desired goal. Simple yes, easy no, let me illustrate. My daughter had been dabbling with horses for a couple years and decided that she would like to focus in this area and see if she really wanted to pursue this for her future. At the time we could call it a hobby at best and she had been riding an older horse that could win once in awhile regardless of who was riding it. She discovered that she had a love for everything about horses and wanted to go to the next level.

My wife and I knew that the PDCA process was the way to improve so we taught Jessie the principles and have watched her in amazement continue to improve almost daily. She started setting short term goals which lined up with a five year goal to win at the AQHA World Show and is actually ahead of schedule according to veterans and mentors in the field. Her long term goal is to become a world class trainer with her own facility so two years ago we adjusted the plan and were able to get her into a working world class ranch and around one of the best gurus in the field. It is important to note that Jessie has earned her dream through hard work, not being given an easy route from us which has also been a catalyst for growth. About three years ago she bought with her own money a $2500 horse that was 4 years old and had not been trained out of a pasture near our home. She then started  training hard with the PDCA process and their first year in the show ring was brutal. As with all change the process is uncomfortable and instant success is not a reality, so at the lower level shows she had difficulty even placing in her classes but she grasped what we were teaching her and continued on with the PDCA process. The next winter she worked as a stable hand and her mom worked at the ranch also for two months to earn mentoring and training in the clinics and private instruction from the best. Jessie then used deliberate focused practice to improve her horsemanship and starting getting results. In shows she could not place in the year before she was now dominating. We used the scorecard principle and tracked her progress to find that she was now getting “firsts’ in 67 % of her classes.

We knew through PDCA that it was vital to repeat the next winter at the ranch working sun-up to sundown getting more training and exposure to the dream she was now passionate about. Jessie is now almost 7500 hrs in the saddle on her way to the 10,000 hrs that Malcolm Gladwell teaches is necessary to master anything. This year we PDCAed to test the water at AQHA shows which was risky for her confidence and very intimidating.  Jessie had a slow start but did place at the “Major Leagues” of horsemanship. She knew the PDCA process required that we mentor from someone with results and use deliberate practice to adjust. A mentor with 50 years in and world titles gave her some free instruction because he likes her hunger and two days later she got her first blue ribbon with a $2500 dollar horse beating $50,000 to $100,000 dollar horses that were trained by professionals and ridden by girls who have been riding since they could walk!!!! This new coach turned to me and said ” that does not happen here, not at this level”.  Jessie has truly found her passion, this is not her hobby and her future is very bright, she truly has the potential to become great, and could literally sell this horse for a huge profit. This tells me she has discovered her purpose and I am so grateful we were exposed to the power of PDCA!

My point is this, anyone with a dream and some guts can still take LIFE changing information and apply it to live the the life you always wanted. Thank you ORRIN WOODWARD, TEAM LEADERSHIP, and the LIFE EDUCATION SYSTEM for giving my little girl the tools to make it happen!  God Bless, Bob

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:33 AM EST

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