Filing Cabinet

My hope is that you can use this handout with our teams to show an example that even the greatest achievers of all time have dealt with adversity. It documents the failures of Abraham Lincoln endured on his way to becoming one of the greatest Presidents in the history of the United States.

1831 – FAILED IN BUSINESS

1832 – DEFEATED FOR THE HOUSE

1834 – FAILED IN BUSINESS

1836 – NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

1838 – LOST AN ELECTION

1843 – LOST CONGRESSIONAL RACE

1846 – RAN FOR OFFICE AND LOST

1848 – RAN FOR OFFICE AND LOST

1855 – LOST SENATE RACE

1856 – UNSUCCESSFUL IN HIS BID FOR VICE PRESIDENCY

1858 – LOST SENATE RACE

1860 – BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

It’s not where you start—it’s where you finish that matters.

Check out some of our other basketball prose and basketball poems!

Here are some quotes from Abraham Lincoln that are in our basketball quotes section:

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.”

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

“I will prepare, and someday my chance will come.”

Here are some characteristics of successful athletes: I got this from one of Don Meyer’s clinics. It is taken from What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack. You can read some excerpts from the book by clicking on the title name link.

The better you think you are doing, the greater should be your cause for concern; the more self-satisfied you are with your accomplishments, your past achievements, your “right moves,” the less you should be.

The champion’s true edge exists solely in the mind, and over the years I have observed three attitudinal character­istics which are common to every superstar I have ever known.  They are just as applicable in business as they are in the athletic arena.  I have, in fact, adapted them to my own business career and they are the source from which I derive most of my drive and determination.

The first is the champions’ profound sense of dissatis­faction with their own accomplishments.  They use any suc­cess, any victory, as a spur to greater ambition, Any goal that is attained immediately becomes the next step toward a greater more “unreachable” one.

The second is an ability to peak their performances, to get themselves up for major tournaments and events, No one can operate consistently at his or her highest level, yet the legends of any sports era always seem to perform at their best when the stakes are the greatest.  This is par­ticularly true in tennis and golf, perhaps the most mentally demanding of all the major sports, and why the major tour­naments in both have always been dominated by a handful of players.

Finally it is their ability to put their opponents away.  This is referred to as “the killer instinct,” but that tells you more about the result than of what is going on mentally.

I In the champion’s mind he is never ahead.  He distorts reality to serve his competitive purpose.  He is always coming from behind, even when the score indicates he is destroying his opponents.  He never believes he is performing as well as he actually is.

Taken from:

What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School
by Mark McCormack

Compliments of Coach Don Meyer

Other Basketball Poems in the Filing Cabinet

Author–Dale Wimbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,
And see what THAT man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass;
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

A young boy walked along a stretch of beach skimming shells into the waves, The boy noticed the distant figure of an old man. Curious to see what, the man was doing, he dropped his shells and ran through the sand.

As he approached, the boy noticed the man repeatedly stooping to pick up objects and throw them beyond the breaking surf. The boy also noticed that the sand was strewn with thousands of starfish, washed ashore by the out going tide.

The boy watched the man repeat his actions to returning starfish to the cool waters before the became lifeless, baked by the noonday sun.

The boy spoke. “I see you throwing starfish into the ocean old man. Why are you doing that?”

“To make a difference,” replied the man.

‘Surely,” said the boy, with thousands of starfish all over the beach what possible difference could you make?”

The man smiled knowingly as he reached for yet another starfish. As he tossed it far from the shore, he said,”It makes a difference to this one, son – it makes a difference to this one.’

The boy left the old man and thought about his words. As he walked along the -beach, once again alone, he began picking up objects – tossing them into the sea. However, instead of sea shells this time, they were starfish. The boy was returning them to their home.

He learned a powerful lesson that day. He discovered that he too could make a difference.

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowances for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master,
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fool,
Or watch the things you gave you life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

From our basketball poems file… We have more basketball poems, prose, basketball quotes, and inspirational articles in our FILING CABINET.

Edgar A. Guest

II’d rather see a sermon than to hear one any day;
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but examples are always clear.

And, best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds;
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it, if you’ll let me see it done;
I can see your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very fine and true,
But I’d rather get my lesson by observing what you do;
For I may misunder­stand you and the high advice you give;
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live!