Mortar 8, Integrity (Bot9 #136)
Integrity - Mortar 8, John Wooden's Pyramid of Success by Keith Wahl
"To hold a structure of bricks (or blocks) together, the mason applies mortar around each layer. In the Pyramid of Success, character qualities bond the 15 building blocks, thus symbolizing mortar. These character qualities actually run throughout the Pyramid and help us advance toward the apex."
Is there a man more in need of the Wooden Pyramid of Success than Johnny Manziel? I would argue that no one in the world truly enjoys seeing someone fail, but sometimes the action of another might lead us to hope failure occurs for his or her own personal growth. For me, that's the case with Johnny Manziel.
He is a tremendously gifted and exciting football player. There is no question there. However, he suffers from a split heart, a double-minded internal monologue. Wooden speaks to this in this section on Integrity:
People with integrity do what is right both on and off the court. I had great basketball players who fell short. They had what I call "selective integrity." In basketball situations, I could count on them. They were reliable and they were sincerely committed to the team. Some were even on my NCAA championship teams, but they were not successful in my way of thinking. They did not carry over their integrity into every other area of their lives. As a result, their selective integrity kept them from becoming all they were capable of becoming.
This week, our Director of College Recruiting, Bill Bufton, shared the following article about Johnny Manziel:
Four Life Lessons Learned from Johnny Manziel
Click the link above to read all of those lessons, but here are the four from the article:
1. If you want to go "pro," start acting like a professional now.
2. You can't have it both ways: discipline can't be a category.
3. When given direction from a coach, see it as a test to pass.
4. To be treated as a mature adult, you must earn it with habits.
Integrity is a daily, moment-by-moment choice. It's hard and takes the right habits built over time. My we take a moment today not to revel in Manziel's mistakes, but to learn where we can improve our own habits to build integrity.