Michael Jordan is considered the best player in the history of the NBA. During his basketball career he won six championship rings, six final MVP’s, 5 NBA MVP’s and a host of other accolades and accomplishments, including holding the NBA record for highest career regular season scoring and highest career playoff scoring.
Not a Basketball player anymore, Jordan is now an entrepreneur and is the majority owner and chairman of the Charlotte Bobcats and has an estimated net worth of $650 million.
We could say he’s a successful man, right?
Like with anyone who has reached a high level of success there are without a doubt things will can learn from Jordan and because of that here are twelve lessons on success that we can learn from Michael Jordan himself:
1. Take Action
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
Many people are so scared of failure that they will allow it to stop them taking action. The thing is though you can’t get anywhere unless you try. Sure you may fail but that’s ok, everyone fails at something and just because you failed doesn’t mean you are a failure. Make sure to accept failure then as it’s a natural part of the journey towards success.
2. Focus On The Fundamentals
“The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether its proper technique, work ethic or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you’re doing.”
It’s very easy to get caught up in the details and overlook the fundamentals. We need to focus on the fundamentals though as everything is built on them. Make sure then that you work on mastering them and you then work on practicing them in order to keep them sharp because it’s only when you do that you’ll be able to stay on top of your game.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
If you take a look at any successful person they all have one thing in common and that is at some point in their life they have failed and sometimes they have failed more than once. You need to accept then that failure is just a part of success and you shouldn’t fear failure. Instead when you do fail what you need to do is pick yourself back up and use those failures as motivation to push yourself even harder.
4. It’s Up To You To Make It Happen
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
You need to realize that you’re never going to get anywhere in life by sitting on your butt. You’re never going to be sitting down on the couch watching TV one day and have success come knocking on your door. Nope, what you’re going to have to to is get of your butt and do what it is that you need to do to get where you want to get.
5. Overcome Your Obstacles
“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
When you are trying to achieve success there will be many times when you will hit a roadblock. Many people when they hit a roadblock they get discouraged and quit and but you need to know that roadblocks are there to stop you from hitting success before you are ready. When you hit a roadblock the energy you will spend on overcoming it will help condition you for when you are truly ready for success.
6. Do What You Love
“Even when I’m old and grey, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game.”
To become successful it’s important that you are passionate about what you are doing. The reason why is because it’s only when you truly love what you are doing that you are motivated to put in the work no matter how hard that work might be.
7. Have Belief In Yourself
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them”
An important thing you need to know is that your beliefs create your behaviors. So, if you don’t believe that you will be able to achieve success then you won’t be able to it. Make sure then that you fully belief that success will be yours, that no matter what you will achieve it because it’s only when you really do believe in yourself that you will be able to achieve it.
8. Put In The Work
“I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.”
The key to success at anything is hard work. If you want success you need to be working harder than anyone else, you need to make sure that when others are sleeping that you are working. Because it’s only when you put the hard work in day in and day out that you will be able to get where you want to get in life.
9. You Can’t Do It Alone
“If you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
There is without a doubt that Michael Jordan is the best Basketball player of all time but did you know that Jordan didn’t win a single championship throughout the 80’s? Sure he won things like scoring titles, Defensive Player of The Year and league MVP awards but he didn’t start winning championships until he had the help of people such as Phil Jackson, Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen.
Make sure then that you don’t close yourself of to others and when opportunities come up to work with others then go for them as you’ll find that working with others can greatly increase the amount of success you achieve and also how fast you get there.
10. No Regrets
“Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.”
In life we all have to make decisions and sometimes we make bad decisions. It’s pointless though dwelling on them as the past is the past and no amount of wishing is going to be able to change what is done. Instead you shouldn’t give your decisions a second thought, do as Jordan does and forget about them as soon as you’ve made them.
11. Always See The Positive Side
“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.”
In life things don’t always go to plan. The key though is to keep in mind that you can’t control what happens to you but you can control how you respond to it. So, if you are presented with a negative situation then take the time to see the positive in it.
For example if say you have got fired from your job, instead of looking at it as a bad thing, you can see it as an opportunity to learn new skills, start the business you have always wanted or to use it as a time to volunteer to help others. Turn your negatives into a positive then as that’s the only way to success and happiness.
12. Know When It’s Time For a Change
“I just needed to change. I was getting tired of the same old activity and routine and I didn’t feel all the same appreciation that I had felt before and it was tiresome. A lot of things correlated with that – my father dying, the opportunity to play baseball, my desire to make a change. I look back on it and it was perfect timing to break away from it and see what I was missing, to see what it was meant to me, to see the enjoyment that I got from the game.”
Back in October 6th 1993 at the age of 30, Michael retired from professional basketball. Many people were shocked at his decision and thought it was a stupid move to do seeing as he was at the top of his game and had won three championships in a row.
Now Jordan didn’t go very well in Baseball but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is the fact that he realized that he was on the verge of burning-out and that by making that change he allowed himself to refresh and in 1995 when he came back to the NBA he went on to win three more championships.
If you do then find yourself getting burnt-out, do like Jordan did and take some time out. Now that doesn’t mean you have to make such a drastic change but you might want to take a week or two off work once every so often in order to recharge your batteries so when you go back to work you can do so with a new level of enthusiasm.
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