If you have a clear mind . . . you won't have to search for direction. Direction will come to you. Phil Jackson More Quotes by Phil Jackson More Quotes From Phil Jackson I'm a patient person. I think that's one thing that I feel comfortable I can deal with - the downfall and the errors, as long as I see progress and people trying. Phil Jackson patient-person errors thinking My first act after being named head coach of the Bulls was to formulate a vision for the team. I had to take into account not only what I wanted to achieve, but how I was going to get there. Phil Jackson team motivational sports Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball. Phil Jackson basketball inspirational sports Make your work your play and your play your work. Phil Jackson play Approach the game with no preset agendas and you'll probably come away surprised at your overall efforts. Phil Jackson basketball games sports Basketball is a great mystery. You can do everything right. You can have the perfect mix of talent and the best system of offense in the game. You can devise a foolproof defensive strategy and prepare your players for every possible eventuality. But if the players don’t have a sense of oneness as a group, your efforts won’t pay off. And the bond that unites a team can be so fragile, so elusive. Phil Jackson team basketball player You go in the weight room and you lift weights and you do all these things to strengthen your body. This is strengthening your mind. When you can stay focused and you can use that focus to always come back with your breath to center yourself, so that you're kind of floating in the moment, in the spirit. Phil Jackson focus use mind I think the most rewarding part of the job, and I think most coaches would say it, is practice. If you have it, a very good practice in which you have 12 guys participate, and they can really get something out of it, lose themselves in practice. Phil Jackson practice jobs thinking The best part of basketball, for those people on the inside, is the bus going to the airport after you've won a game on an opponent's floor. It's been a very tough battle. And preferably, in the playoffs. And that feeling that you have, together as a group, having gone to an opponent's floor and won a very good victory, is as about as high as you can get. Phil Jackson airports basketball games I'm not going to coach again. I've done my coaching, and I think I can put that aside. Phil Jackson coaching done thinking An acrobatic dunk will make it onto Sports Center. A simple, unspectacular bounce pass in the rhythm of the offense will not. System basketball has been replaced by players who want to be the system. Phil Jackson basketball simple sports I think people forgot that there are still ways you can get the ball inside rather than just standing there and throwing the ball in. You have to have a system that makes all things work. Phil Jackson balls people thinking I will have Derek Fisher wear all 5 of his rings the first time he comes in to talk to Carmelo. Phil Jackson rings first-time firsts Despite their tremendous talent, (NBA players) are still, by and large, young adults, seeking validation from an authority figure, and there is no greater authority figure on a team than the coach. Needless to say, in today's warped, self-indulgent climate, too many players couldn't care less about appeasing the coach. Phil Jackson nba team player For us tall people, the whole key is that your hips and your knees should form a right angle when you sit down. That's where backs and hips get to be problems for big guys. Phil Jackson guy keys people Basketball is sharing. Phil Jackson basketball-coaching coaching basketball I gave it my body and mind, but I have kept my soul. Phil Jackson basketball soul mind I think the most important thing about coaching is that you have to have a sense of confidence about what you're doing. Phil Jackson coaching important thinking People think I would never take on a team that has no legitimate chance to win a championship, This is one of the major misconceptions about me. Success can be measured in many different ways. . . . Either way, I would find the challenge invigorating. Phil Jackson team winning thinking There's a term, agape, you hear used a lot with charismatic religious groups, that it's this more pure love of caring, of sharing of concern and understanding. I think players and teams have to come to that at some point in the season to become successful. Maybe not "personal friends," but they become teammates at the highest level of that term. Phil Jackson team successful religious