11 Rings: The Soul Of Success

The autobiography “11 Rings – The Soul of Success” (2013) highlights the life and career of Phil Jackson, a former National Basketball Association (NBA) coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. The book primarily examines Phil Jackson’s personal experiences during his coaching tenure, showcasing his unique approach in dealing with his players. Jackson also highlights other key life experiences that occur prior to his professional career. These experiences include his upbringing in a strict Christian household, early aspirations in playing basketball, and his research in Buddhism, humanistic psychology, mindfulness meditation, Zen philosophy, and other Native American traditions. Jackson later applies this knowledge to his coaching

system.

Jackson’s professional playing career in the NBA began on the New York Knicks (from 1967-1980), where he won two championships as a power forward off the bench. During his tenure as a player, Jackson developed great interest in coaching. This led him to pursue a coaching opportunity years later, where he received a head coaching position with the Chicago Bulls. His experience coaching the Bulls was tremendously successful. Jackson amassed a total of six championship rings over the span of ten years. Immediately following this, Jackson took the coaching position for the Los Angeles Lakers. There, he won a total of five rings during his eleven-year tenure. The memoir details Jackson’s path towards achieving success, revealing the morale and spirit of his teams, as well as his unique coaching practices throughout his career.
In summary, Phil Jackson’s “11 Rings – The Soul of Success” (2013) highlights the personal and professional career of Phil Jackson, the most winningest coach in the history of American professional sports. In the autobiography, Jackson reveals his unique philosophy of promoting mindfulness and optimism in his players. Largely due to the success of this approach, Jackson’s legacy has inspired future coaches to foster psychological and spiritual practices with their teams.

Jackson, Phil, and Hugh Delehanty. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print.

The Successful Coach: Cultivating an Attitude of Mindfulness and Optimism

The profession of coaching in the sports world is often misconceived, in large part due to the complexity of the field.

Historically, there has been a conception that coaching the physical aspects of sport is most important for team success. However, coaching has undergone great change over the years. Particularly, there has been a growing emphasis on fostering the mental elements of sport for athletes. These include confidence, motivation, mindfulness, optimism, and mental toughness (Ellsworth, 2011). A coach who has shared similar values is Phil Jackson, a former coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, and owner of a record breaking eleven National Basketball Association (NBA) championship rings. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest coaches in American sports, in large part due to his remarkable ability to cultivate these components in his players. In his autobiography 11 Rings – The Soul of Success (2013), Jackson describes the unique approaches he used to foster these constructs, particularly emphasizing mindfulness and optimism. For example, his book highlights his principles of mindful leadership, some which are titled, “Lead from the Inside Out”, “One Breath = One Mind”, “The Key to Success is Compassion”, and “Bench the Ego” (Jackson, 11-19). As evident though Coach Jackson, as well as many other high achieving sport coaches, the development of a team’s psychological aspects can positively correlate in with a team’s success. This paper will

discuss the concepts of coaching with a mindful and optimistic approach, and will relate this coaching style to success in teams and athletes.

The Effects of Implementing a Mindful Coaching Approach
Mindfulness refers to “the nonjudgmental focus of one’s attention on the experience that occurs in the present moment”, as stated by the founder of the concept, Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994). In other words, mindfulness is being psychologically aware, achieved by only paying attention to the current moment. Another important consideration is that mindfulness requires one to ignore external distractions, including negative thoughts and feelings (McCanny, 2015). The technique is often executed through meditation, yoga, and tai chi (Davis & Hayes, 2012). The concept has been proven to yield several benefits, such as reducing stress, improving focus, and lowering emotional reactivity (Davis & Hayes, 2012).
The benefits of this exercise can also aid athletes and teams in sports, as there are many stressful situations they are forced to deal with.

From the perspective of an individual athlete, or even an entire team, mindfulness can help in keeping an athlete(s) focused and relaxed during a certain play or situation they are in. It can also allow the athlete/team to embrace the results of whatever occurs, rather than judging or valuing what is to come (Kaufman, 27). Thus, it will also allow them to think less on their previous mistakes that have already occurred, as well lower their anxiousness on what is ahead. Due to its benefits, many highly successful coaches have implemented the technique into their coaching

style.
Many studies in sports psychology have established a positive link between a mindful coaching approach and team success. Prior to games, coaches will often have their team go through multiple ‘pregame’ rituals, a moment where players are stress-free and at a state of mindfulness. These techniques consist of both mental (meditating, imagining success, positive encouragement), and physical (dribbles prior to free-throw, free-kick practice) routines, where the skill would be preformed in a closed environment (Singer, 2002). Research has shown that the consistent practice of these rituals does in fact lead to success in athletes. A study conducted by Lobmeyer and Wasserman (1986) analyzed a group of novice basketball players that participated in a mindful pre-shot ritual prior to a free-throw, and compared their free throw percentage with another group of athletes that did not take part in any routine. It was revealed that the ritual-performing group achieved a 7% higher free-throw percentage in comparison to the group with no routine (Lobmeyer & Wasserman, 1986). Another study was performed in order to analyze the effect of free throw shooting with the aid of a mental exercise in young athletes. To determine any possible correlation, the 40 athletes from a basketball camp were divided into groups: one practicing with the aid mental imagery and relaxation, and the other without a routine (Wrisberg & Anshel, 1989). The results concluded that practicing foul shots with an additional mindful training regime yields a better performance. Expanding on this, researchers Predabon and Docker (1992) conducted a similar study, and discovered that athletes tend to deteriorate in their respective skills upon dropping mindful training aspects from their practice.
Clearly, the effect of incorporating mindfulness in training is very beneficial for not only athletes, but also for entire teams. The numerous psychological advantages tied to the concept result in it being a highly favourable style of coaching, and one that will likely continue to be more prevalent in the future.

A Coaching Approach Revolving Around Optimism
As stated by the Oxford Dictionary (n.d.), optimism is the characteristic of one who has “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something”. A key attribute of an optimist is that they have a ‘growth’ mindset, meaning that they believe that their qualities are changeable with dedication and hard work (Dweck, 2006). In day to day life, having an optimistic state of mind comes with many health benefits. Harvard University states that optimists can cope with diseases and surgery well, and therefore live longer. On top of this, people high in optimism are generally less stressed, have lower blood pressure, are highly motivated, and are less likely to suffer from mental illnesses (Harvard University, n.d.).
The advantages that derive from optimism also prove to be applicable in the development of athletes and teams in the sports world. The concept of having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset is especially important when considering sports. This type of mindset often comes into play when a team or individual is going through some sort of adversity (Wu, 41). This can include a tough defeat, or an unfortunate injury. Having an optimistic mindset is critical when facing these difficulties. An athlete that lacks this mindset may stress themselves out, as well as lose motivation and doubt their athletic capabilities (Wu, 42). These negative thoughts lead to a deterioration in the athlete’s performance, therefore hindering their team’s success. Ideally a coach should promote the concept of ‘positive psychology’, and implement it in when dealing with their team. Since athletes are at their best when they have an optimistic state of mind, it is important for coaches to instil the value of staying positive to their athletes.
Multiple studies have emphasized a strong-positive correlation between the level of optimism in an athlete/team, and corresponding success. A study performed by Conroy and Coatsworth (2006) was conducted to determine how a positive coaching approach can lead to individual and team success. One team was coached with a coach that emphasized in staying positive and optimistic, and the other team was coached regularly. Qualitative analysis indicated that the athletes coached by the optimistic coach seemed to like their coach more relative to the other group. The players in this group also had an increase in self-esteem, had lower anxiety levels, were more motivated to win, and won more of their games (Murphy, 2012). Another study was performed by Martin Seligman, back in 1985. He accurately predicted the season outcome of the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals, two Major League Baseball teams (Lopez, 2015). This was done by researching positive psychology of both teams a year prior. He suspected that the Mets would perform much better than the Cardinals due to the much greater frequency of optimistic comments from their players and coaches. The Mets went on to win the world series the next year, while the Cardinals lost more games than won. The experiment was tested again the next year, and again Seligman was correct with his prediction.
In conclusion, a coaching method consisting of giving positive feedback and staying optimistic plays a large role in the success of the players, and therefore their team. The widespread evidence regarding the its effectiveness makes it increasingly likely for more future coaches to adapt a more optimistic approach.

Conclusion
In summary, the addition of the mindful and optimistic coaching approach has led to great success in individual athletes, as well as their respective teams. Legendary coaches such as Phil Jackson have revolutionized the coaching profession by marking the importance of such mental states. Extrapolating from these findings, it can be concluded that the emphasis towards the psychological components of sport will continue to grow over time.