wooden

"Wooden" is a book of John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach who won 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years between 1964 and 1975. Coach John Wooden is loved and respected by many, not only for his unprecedented (and probably unsurpassable) winning record, but his way of coaching and the life principles he teaches and practices with his players and himself on and off the basketball court. This book is a collection of Wooden's lifetime observations and reflections on families, values, success, achievement, coaching, leading, etc. It is easy to read, but powerful, inspiring, and even-keeled at the same time.

Some examples:

Overachievers

No one is an overachiever. How can you rise above your level of competency? We're all underachievers to different degrees. You may hear someone say that a certain individual "gave 110 percent." How can that be? You can only give what you have, and you have only 100 percent.

Underdogs

I have never gone into a game thinking we were going to lose. Never. Even though there have been games where the experts said there were no way we could win. Even if we were big underdogs I always felt anything could happen. Often enough, I was right.

That's also why I never assumed we were going to win.

Fame 

Fame is just something other people perceive you to be. You're not different. You're still you. It's their illusion. I didn't want it to become my illusion.

  

Hopes and Dreams 

Youngsters are told, "Think big. Anything is possible." I would never go that strong. I want them to think positively, but when you think big you often start thinking too big,  and I believe that can be very dangerous.

Wanting an unattainable goal will eventually produce a feeling of "What's the use?" That feeling can carry over into other areas. This is bad.

Some favorite maxims of his:

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.  

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.  

Being average means you are as close to the bottom as you are to the top.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

In the final part of the book, Wooden lays out his defintion of success as such:

"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."

He draws a "pyramid of success" that shows how such success can be achieved: 

The pyramid has gained such fame there are actually courses and web sites after it:
http://www.woodencourse.com/woodens_wisdom.html

http://bit.ly/cjpH1k

A few words on Wooden's family and faith, lastly:

John Wooden was born on October 14, 1910 in a small town in Indiana to farmer parents Roxie Anna and Joshua Hugh Wooden. He had three brothers and two sisters, both died before reaching the age of three. Wooden met his wife Nellie when he was 16. They married in a small ceremony in Indianapolis 6 years later. John and Nellie had a son and a daughter. Nellie died on March 21, 1985 from cancer.

Wooden has remained devoted to Nellie, even decades after her death. Since her death, he has kept to a monthly ritual (health permitting)—on the 21st, he visits her grave, and then writes a love letter to her. After completing the letter, he places it in an envelope and adds it to a stack of similar letters that has accumulated over the years on the pillow she slept on during their life together.

In mourning Nellie's death, Wooden has been comforted by his faith. He has been a Christian for many years and his beliefs are more important to him than basketball, "I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior." Wooden's faith has strongly influenced his life. He reads the Bible daily and attends the First Christian Church. He has said that he hopes his faith is apparent to others, "If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me."

flow

Two good books I read last year, recommended by two good friends, deal with happiness and success.

"Flow," a book written by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned scholar/professor and former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, is a serious work on the science of what constitues happiness and how it can be achieved for people. In its anatomy of human consciousness, it somewhat borrows the information theory model to define consciousness as "intentionally ordered information," attention as "psychic energy," and disorder in consciousness as "psychic entropy;" the goal then is to direct one's psychic energy away from psychic entropy to achieve order in consciousness, or the "flow" experience. It also examines what constitutes "I", and concludes it is both part and sum of the contents of consciousness that "I" directs its psychic energy to accumulate for--a circular process that constantly feeds and evolves on itself.

The book then goes on to analyze how "flow" state can be achieved in both physical and mental realms--resulting in sports, games and various scholastic disciplines we have in our civilization--as well as in our daily work, and how one can become an "autotelic" personality that self-motivates and enjoys the work he/she does.  

  

Evidence that this is not a quick-way-to-happiness book is in its discussion on the need of balance between self and group, or differentiation and integration: As one takes on and excels in more and more challenges with the "flow" experiences, he/she becomes more unique or different from others, but keeping union and harmonious relationships with others is still a very essential part of the overall happiness for the individual. (The old Confucius saying "君子和而不同" comes to mind, with emphasis tilting toward the other end, though). The same assertion is made again in its concluding chapter on the subject of the meaning of life:

"In the past few thousand years, humanity has achieved incredible advances in the differentiation of consciousness... We have invented abstraction and analysis--the ability to separate dimensions of objects and processes from each other, such as the velocity of a falling object from its weight and its mass. It is this differentiaion that has produced science, technology, and the unprecedented power of mankind to build up and to destroy its enviornment.

"But complexity consists of integration as well as differentiation. The task of the next decades and centuries is to realize this under-developed component of the mind. Just as we have learned to separate ourselves from each other and from the environment, we now need to learn how to reunite ourselves with other entities around us without losing our hard-won individuality. The most promising faith for the future might be based on the realization that the entire universe is a system related by common laws and that it makes no sense to impose our dreams and desires on nature without taking them into account. Recognizing the limitations of human will, accepting a cooperative rather than a ruling role in the universe, we should feel the relief of the exile who is finally returning home. The problem of meaning will then be resolved as the individual's purpose merges with the universal flow."

adam's wish

Adam was walking around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely, so
God asked Adam, "What is wrong with you?"

Adam said, "I don't have anyone to talk to." 

God said, "I will give you a companion and it will be a woman." He
said, "This person will cook for you and wash your clothes, she will
always agree with every decision you make, she will bear your children
and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of
them.

"She will not nag," God continued, "and will always be the first to admit
she was wrong. When you've had a disagreement, she will never have a
headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever needed."

Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"

God said, "An arm and a leg!" 

Adam said, "What can I get for just a rib?"

AND THE REST IS HISTORY.

mark itokawa

Mark Itokawa was my last "official" boss between 1989 and 1991.

He was a Japanese American who was born in the US as son of a Japanese consul before World War II. His family returned to Japan when he was young and he subsequently was raised and educated in Japan, got a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and married the daughter of owner of a prestigious, internationally known costmetic company in Japan.

After the World War, with his ingenuity and the chemistry know-how, he invented some consumer product that became an instant hit in post-war Japan. A friend of his persuaded him to form a company based on the product with him. But soon afterwards he felt betrayed in business dealings by his friend-partner, unhappy with his marriage and probably the stifling atmosphere of Japanese society in general, he left the company, divorced his wife, and came to the US, where he had been granted citizenship since his birth to the consul's household in the US.

He started his own businesses in chemical and various other industries, while in the interim was drafted by the US government to serve as an intellgience officer for CIA during the Korean War interrogating prisoners of war ("So, you were bombed by your own government while in Tokyo, and drafted to fight its war in Korea when you came here," I once joked with him), and eventually settled in electronics businesses in California in the 1980s.

When I first met Mark in 1989, he was doing a prosperous business making and distributing cable TV converters and some other RF (microwave) communication products that he paid US consultants to design and manufactured in his own factory in Taiwan. I was introduced to Mark by a person I was doing a project for who wanted to use the project to form a business partnership with him. That project eventually fell through, but Mark took a good impression on me, and I on him, he decided to hire me as a project engineer and a liaison officer between his company here in LA and his factory in Taiwan, thus started my one and a half year working relationship with him.

Mark is a grand mixture of East and West, old generation Japanese decorum and New World spunk and spontaneity, a multi-talent engineer/businessman/scholar in one short, energetic frame. One thing he and I have in common is our enthusiasm in history and human studies in general. Though he doesn't speak Chinese, he can read it pretty well, including some ancient Chinese classics, and honestly I think he knows more about Chinese history than most Chinese people I know, and in a very detail way. Many times we sat at restaurant (mostly Japanese since he knows it's my favorite) table and talked for hours, not about engineering project or company business, but human history and anthropology ("Look at the differences in the skeletons of the Sung Dynasty emperors they found: just within a couple generations, they came from big, stodgy build of soldier men to tiny, fragile civilian frames," he once shared with me), or philosophy and religion (he has a sister who is a Catholic nun in Japan, which he thinks is silly). Once during a trip in Taiwan, after visiting his factory and all the business meetings, he arranged a special trip for me and him to visit mock villages of Taiwanese aborigines together so we could share and discuss our ideas on the origins of people in Asia.

With all that brilliant mind in him, he is really not a good communicator. They say he didn't start speaking until well past the norm age when he was a kid, and he was a loner as a child--story has it that he once sat alone on the roof top while the whole family looked for him all day long. He has a strong temper too, especially when he's frustrated he cannot express his ideas properly. And here comes the rub: The woman partner who co-worked in the company and co-owned the factory in Taiwan with him, occasionally, for some known and unknown reasons, intentionally or unintentionally, angered him. At such occasions, he would throw a big tantrum and go wild, banging his head on the wall, yelling "I am so stupid, I am no good," again and again. Or in some other occasions, he would come to me, with faltering voices, almost like a child begging, "David, could you explain this for me.." I was shocked by such emotional outbursts in the beginning, but then learned to be accustomed to it and even amused by the eccentricity of the man and the situations. 

No doubt Mark is a dynamic personality and has his moments of whimsy ("The most exciting thing about life is you don't know what's going to happen next minute," "I never thought I would have lived past 30," he said) and tough dealings while conducting his business, but he's also very honest and loyal to his associates, contractors, and employees, who have all been with him for decades. He has some soft spot too. Once we were dining at a Chinese restaurant and ordered some fish, then the waiter, as customary, brought out the fish in a bucket to show us that it's very alive and will be the one they'll cook for us for dinner. Upon seeing this, Mark moaned, "Oh, why do they do that.." I asked others in the table what did he mean, they said Mark cannot eat anything if he has seen it alive before it's cooked.

I left Mark and his company because I didn't see much going on for me there, though I knew Mark's grand plan was for me to take over the engineering side of things and then become a business partner of the company. But I was young and thought I could do it better somewhere else then, so one day in my cocky, impudent self I burst out on him: "I had enough here already, I don't want to do this dirty job of being the go-between for you and your factory any more." He was shocked and speechless, probably a bit embarrassed too because he understood those outbursts he had with others might have some effect on me.. God knows he had been extra-careful and kind with me and never bossed me around or even put a harsh word on me, so such comments from me were really unfair and probaby hurtful to him, but I didn't know better then.

We remained friends, though. When I subsequently traveled to Japan and did several tele-campaign projects there for a Canadian guy in the following year, I sent him postcards--he probably was doubly pleasantly surprised that I picked his mother country to do projects in, and I talked to him on the phone, sharing my thoughts on Japanese society ("everyone seemed so stereotyped here," I told him) and some book I recently read ("鴻"--a memoir of contemporary history and the cultural revolution of China), and we went to meals togehter when I was back in LA, just like what we used to do. He actually apologized to me for making me feel I had to leave and offered to continue to pay me as non-resident consultant and some projects to do with him.

We kept in touch off and on through the years. I knew his business was not doing too well though, with lots of debts and continuing troubles between his company here and the factory in Taiwan.

The last time I saw him was in my office, in the year 2000, a couple of months after I started my dot-com company with VC funding in Irvine Spectrum. He came all the way from his office in Gardena to visit me and we had dinner together and then came back to my office. After a few exchanges of words we fell silent, or actually I started busy doing some work at my desk and he fell silent. Finally, he said he had to leave and I didn't ask him to stay.

About one year and a half later, I heard he killed himself.

According to his employees, on that day he didn't show up in his office, and they felt something bad might have happened, so one of them went to his apartment to check, and from the keyhole, he saw Mark slouching in his chair, with a pool of blood and a pistol in his hand.

I was shocked when I heard the news, then I sobbed. All of a sudden, I realized how a tormented man he had been all his life, a lonely childhood, a tender, sensitive heart beneath a hot temper, the feeling of guilt for leaving his wife in Japan, the stress of keeping his company afloat, mainly due to his sense of responsibility and obligation to his employees.. all these he bore day in and day out.. I wish I could have accompanied him more, perhaps brought more joy to him through our mutual sharing of things, that I might/could have helped relieve some pain he had inside... But all I can do now, as I did when I heard the news, is pray that he finally gets his peace and rest in God's loving arms.

In memory of a dear friend, Mark Itokawa, on the eve of his passing 8 years ago.

heaven & hell

A rabbi spoke with God about heaven and hell. 

"I will show you hell," God said, and they went into a room which had a large pot of stew in the middle.

The smell was delicious, but around the pot sat people who were famished and desperate.

All were holding spoons with very long handles which reached to the pot, but, because the handles were longer than their arms, it was impossible to get the stew back into their mouths. 

"Now I will show you heaven," God said, and they went into an identical room. 

There was a similar pot of stew, the smell was delicious, and the people had identical spoons, but they were well-nourished and happy. 

"It's simple," God said. "You see, they have learned to feed one another."

-- Medieval Jewish story

jeremy lin

If you are an Asian American parent, the thought of your kid attending an Ivy League school such as Harvard might have crossed your mind sometime. How about your kid playing in a professional sports league, such as NBA? Probably not. Now imagine your kid attending Harvard and going NBA? You must be joking, you'd say.

Well, here's an Asian American kid who's well on this path now, no joking. Jeremy Lin, the son of two Taiwanese immigrant parents who was born and raised in Palo Alto, California, is attending Harvard and leading its basketball team playing NCAA games with record shattering performances, and is projected to be a favored draft choice of NBA if he elects to go professional after graduation. The following is put together from various newspaper and magazine reports regarding this unique young man that's making news lately:

Jeremy Lin, a 6 ft. 3 in., 200 lb senior majoring in Economics in Harvard Univeristy and co-captain of its basketball team, is leading this year's Harvard team to its best start in 25 years. Last season Lin was the only player in the nation to rank among the top 10 players in his conference in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and 3-point percentage. This year, in games against New England's two traditional NCAA basketball powerhouses, UConn and Boston College, Lin scored 55 points and shot 64 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line. If Lin helps Harvard's team to win the Ivy League this year, it will play in the NCAA Tournament in March for the first time in 64 years.

Lin caught the hoops bug from his father Gie-Ming. Before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s from Taiwan, Gie-Ming would scour Taiwanese television for highlights of NBA games. Once in the States, he studied Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the classic Los Angeles Lakers–Boston Celtics games from the 1980s. "I cannot explain the reasons why I love basketball," says Gie-Ming, a computer engineer who received his doctorate degree at Purdue University before settling down on the West Coast. "I just do."

By the time Jeremy was 5, Gie-Ming was taking him to the local YMCA in Palo Alto, Calif., to play ball in a kids' league. For Jeremy, it wasn't exactly love at first sight. "He stood at half-court sucking his thumb for the entirety of about half his games that season," says Jeremy's older brother Josh, 24. "It came to the point where my mom stopped going to watch his games." Then Jeremy asked his mother Shirley to start coming to the Y again. Before Shirley would commit, however, she wanted to know if he'd actually try. "He responded with something along the lines of 'I'm going to play, and I'm going to score,' " Josh says. She showed up, and Jeremy scored the maximum number of points one player could amass under the kiddy-league rules. "From that game on, he just took off and never looked back," says Josh.

Throughout Jeremy's childhood, Gie-Ming would take him to the YMCA after he finished his homework. They would practice and play in pickup games. "Many Asian families focus so much on academics," says Gie-Ming. "But it felt so good to play with my kids. I enjoyed it so much." Gie-Ming said he never had to worry about Jeremy's ability to balance basketball and academics because his son always showed maturity in devoting enough time to both. The young Lin had an overall 4.2 GPA, a perfect score on his SAT II Math 2C in the ninth grade, and led Palo Alto High basketball team to a 32-1 record and the California state championship in his senior year in high school and ended up garnering virtually every player of the year award in northern California.

Some people still can't look past his ethnicity. Everywhere he plays, Lin is the target of cruel taunts. "It's everything you can imagine," he says. "Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian." Lin is reluctant to mention the specific nature of such insults, but according to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, another Ivy League player called him a C word that rhymes with ink during a game last season. On Dec. 23, during Harvard's 86-70 loss to Georgetown in Washington, McNally says, one spectator yelled "Sweet-and-sour pork!" from the stands.

In the face of such foolishness, Lin doesn't seem to lose it on the court. "Honestly, now, I don't react to it," he says. "I expect it, I'm used to it, it is what it is." Postgame, Lin will release some frustration. "He gets pissed about it afterwards," says McNally. "I have to tip my hat to him. I don't know how I'd react. The type of dude I am, I might not be as mature as Jeremy."

Lin's maturity could lead him to the ministry. A devout Christian, Lin is considering becoming a pastor in a church near his Palo Alto home. "I've never really preached before," Lin says. "But I'm really passionate about Christianity and helping others. There's a beauty in seeing people change their lifestyles for the better."

If Lin leads Harvard to the tournament, he'll be off to a pretty holy start. Consider it his first miracle.

Jeremy Lin in an NCAA basketball game against Boston College on Dec. 9, 2009.jpg

Jeremy Lin (2nd from right) and family.jpg

* Here's a YouTube clip "Top Ten Must-See Sports Moments" by ESPN that includes one Jeremy Lin's basketball highlight: A last-second, game winning 3-point shot in an NCAA contest last November (ranked one notch higher than Kobe Bryan's during that week): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5laQcZ4MH8&feature=related

rick's tweets

I am not a big fanatic of social networking sites--yes I have Facebook, LinkedIn accounts, but I rarely use them, only in response to people's "invites" or for some topical news. So when a few months ago Pastor Rick Warren encouraged people to follow him on the Twitter site (http://twitter.com/RickWarren), I signed it up with some doubt and curiosity, wondering why a pastor would think so highly of this latest cyber age fad if it indeed was one. Well, I heard Twitter's growth rate and popularity have dipped a bit lately, but am I glad I signed up and followed Pastor Rick's tweets ever since! The following are gathered from his tweets in the past few months to share with you:

Pastors should wash their own clothes, dishes and change diapers. You may be anointed but you're just human. Acts 14:15a

Thermometers copy the climate. Thermostats CHANGE it! What are you?

Jesus died for people, not principles. Pharisees care about keeping rules. Jesus cares about healing hurts. Luke 13:14-15

The myth "I can't say I'm humble" misunderstands humility. Humility is admitting I'm helpless without God. It's dependence!

People who shine from within don’t need the spotlight. Phil 2:15

When you die, you won't regret your unfulfilled dreams, just your unattempted ones. The 1st is reality; the 2nd is tragedy. Matt 9:29

Sinful inclinations AREN'T your identity! Don’t say “I’m an alcoholic (or whatever),” say “I'm a Believer who struggles with...”

Heresy-hunting lets you ignore the mess in your own life. God is more concerned about your hypocrisy than other's heresy.

For every book on serving, there's a 100 written on leading. Which have you read more of and what does that tell you? Matt 20:26

Fear-based evangelism lasts as long as the fear. You need Jesus not because you'll die tonight but because you must live tomorrow.

Some people are so open-minded their brains fall out. Prov.14:15 "Only fools believe everything they hear."

Anytime you teach about giving, the generous will smile, and the stingy will squirm. That’s what makes it fun!

Deeper levels of Fellowship: 1 Sharing together (shallowest). 2 Studying together. 3 Serving together. 4 Suffering together.

 .

You don't fully understand a thing 'til you can explain it in a simple way. Confusing people is easy. You must THINK to be simple!

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. "God so loved the world that he GAVE his only son." Jn. 3:16

Advice of the First Consultant: "BUILD A TEAM! This is too much work for you, Moses. You can't do it by yourself." Exodus18:18

In every culture, profession and religion, the pros have always tried to lock out amateurs. It's why innovation happens at the fringe.

Some subgroups of Christians will be shocked when they see who is in heaven. "I have sheep that aren't of this fold"--Jesus

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because you'll never get it back. Your time is your life. You spell love "T.I.M.E."

Vision is NOT predicting the future. No one can. Vision is the ability to see opportunities around you NOW and jump on them!

Make the decision THEN solve the problems. "If you wait for perfect conditions you'll never get anything done." Eccl. 11:4

When Kennedy said "We're going to the moon" it was still impossible. Never confuse decision making with problem solving.

Your Life Purpose comes in three stages: 1 WHAT God wants you to do; 2 HOW & WHERE; 3 WHEN (timing). Delays between stages test your faith.

Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. If you focus on others, you forget you.1 Cor. 10:24

Following Him when your heart is breaking is greater faith than praising Him when your heart is singing. Ps. 34:18

Billy Graham's counsel on false attacks: "Rick, if you wrestle with a pig, both of you will get dirty, but only one of you will like it." Pr. 26:4

My definition of success: Having those who know me best respect me most.

When a plane goes thru violent turbulence at 35,000 ft, you don’t bail out. You remain calm and trust the Pilot! Ps. 56:3

The source of a criticism doesn’t invalidate its truth. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Discern and learn.  Prov.12:15

To insist on being “original or nothing” ensures you'll be both. Refusing to learn from models is pure and simple ego. Pr. 14:6

When I hear "I didn't get anything out of worship today" I say "Sorry but our worship wasn't done for you. It was for God." 1 Chr. 16:29

Doubts are meant to be doubted and beliefs meant to be believed. Don't get it backwards. Doubt your doubts! Believe your beliefs! Mk 9:24

"God ONLY expects me to be FAITHFUL" is a lie. He also expects you to be FRUITFUL! That proves TRUE discipleship. Jn 15:8

First Saddleback sermon on 4/4/1980: "We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't even like."

You can be a THINKER without ever DOING anything, but you'll burn out as a DOER if you don't schedule time to think. Ps. 77:12

Churches built on shaky foundations don't last. Build on The Word, not the world; on Truth, not trends; on Theology, not psychology.

To become like Jesus you must go thru all Jesus went thru: loneliness, fatigue, temptation, hurts. No shortcuts to maturity! Rom. 8:17

When morality is determined by popularity, depravity becomes normality and the death of that culture becomes an inevitability.