Papa Bear Bryant’s Words of Wisdom

(from the movie: "Nothing But A Winner")
Overview: “Papa Bear” Paul Bryant won more football games in his 35 years of coaching than most college football coaches would be able to win in two or three lifetimes. He was recognized as one of the greatest football coaches of all times and his players and fans idolized him at Alabama. While he did not create that many All American players, he did create over thirty head coaches in his lifetime and many of those coaches played against him before he passed away in the early 80’s. His last motivational film produced in 1983 was called… “Nothing But a Winner” and I used that film in my seminars for many years until it became a little too dated to use anymore. However, after having watched that film hundreds of times, I was able to pull over 100 different words of wisdom and concepts from that movie which will never be dated. Here are some of the key ones:

1. You must learn from your experiences.
2. Review your past performance, then build on the good things and eliminate the bad.
3. You must maintain a permanent, positive attitude if you want to be a great one.
4. Enjoy contributing to the team effort every chance you get.
5. Always study why you win far more than why you lose.
6. You are going to make mistakes along the way so don’t be afraid of doing so.
7. Great teamwork makes and excellent team and separates it from an average one.
8. You must focus on being special and being different.
9. Build around you a group of winners who synergize the tream.
10. Always be honest and fair to people and treat them with the greatest respect.
11. Always praise in public and when it is serious, criticize in private.
12. Remember the personal needs of people and their personal lives.
13. Praise far more often than you instruct or criticize and people will listen to you.
14. As a leader, you must learn how to delegate properly and not dump on people.
15. Allow everyone you possibly can to be a part of the win.
16. If the team loses, you take the blame. If they win, you give them the praise.
17. Whether you win or lose, do it with class, with no exceptions.
18. You must learn how to handle adversity and setbacks.
19. When you are knocked down, keep getting back up or you will be beat mentally.
20. Coaching is teaching people how to be good people to treat others right.
21. Work should be fun, even as much as play is fun.
22. Don’t try to build strengths on sour foundations, it just will not work.
23. You must never come up with a lot of excuses when you lose.
24. Winning is a “we” thing, not a “me” thing.
25. Star players are great but I prefer good players who push themselves to be great.
26. If you are leader, it is your job to sell your people on the winning game plan.
27. Hire people that are smarter than you are and surround yourself with them.
28. Look at every problem as an opportunity to improve, not a crisis.
29. A leader can make or break great players, simply by what they do and don’t do.
30. You will improve the best with small bite sizes, not big gulps and large bites.
31. Try not to ever make the same mistake twice, so develop a game plan not to do so.
32. A winning team usually comes from average people who play like champions.
33. Your mental attitude is vital to your success even more than your physical ability.
34. You must have objectives and goals fixed in your mind like a game plan.
35. Be realistic, not everyone can achieve every goal set before them, but do set yours.
36. Practice does not make perfect, but it does make permanent, so practice correctly.
37. Playing favoritism as a leader can be detrimental to the team so be on guard of this.
38. It’s important people remember who the boss is, especially when the chips are down.
39. You must expect the unexpected and always have a plan “B” and “C”.
40. Council and communicate with your people, face to face, or a regular basis.
41. Self-discipline is one of the primary keys to success and without it, you will fail.
42. Play each play to win and never play a game looking to the next one.
43. Know how to fight very hard and keep on coming back.
44. Substitute freely with your team so that you are fresh in the fourth quarter.
45. Have such a balanced team that it is hard to tell the different strings apart.
46. If you are really trying to win on every play, the big plays will come more often.
47. Avoid negative people at all costs because they pull others down.
48. Build upon character, and if it’s not there in the first place, it’s impossible to do so.
49. Everyday, work at being a little bit better in some way.
50. Work smarter and more intelligently as you work harder too.
51. Remember that your mind controls how you perform so keep your mind fresh.
52. You must be flexible and be able to adapt and change immediately.
53. If you are a quitter, you must choose to change that behavior or accept the worse.
54. It really comes down to what’s in your heart that counts.
55. Keep in touch with every player in a team, regardless of their talents.
56. Never take cheap shots at the competition on or off the field.
57. Find a system that works and stick to it and if you do adjust, to it slowly and carefully.
58. Remember, winners will always do what losers do not want to do.
59. Don’t get cocky when you win because you will be setting yourself up for a big fall.
60. When you are down and behind, only you can turn it around and you must believe.
61. There are times when we must be willing to sacrifice, even when it hurts.
62. Today is the first day of the rest of your life so go out there and do your best.
63. Self-motivation is another key success ingredient in football and life.
64. Pay attention to details because those little things can make or break a win.
65. Pride in what you are doing and tenacity to get it done are vital to continual success.
66. The Golden Rule is still the best way to guide you in dealing with others.
67. If you are a leader, your people must believe in you or the team will struggle.
68. Block and tackle and fundamentals executed well, win more games than fancy plays.
69. When you are recruiting for your team, the first thing to look for is a strong character.
70. Go out there expecting to win, because if you expect to lose, you will.
71. You can teach people a lot more by winning than by losing.
72. Have a game plan, stick to it, and only deviate from it when absolutely necessary.
73. When you are on the field out there, you represent a lot of people in the stands.
74. Super teams have real depth in their ranks instead of some winners and losers.
75. Remember, the same things win for us in football, and in life, that always win for us. We just have a whole bunch of excuses as to why we didn’t use those winning things, when we lose.