via The Wall Street Journal
Bob Knight’s college basketball record includes three NCAA championships, 11 Big Ten championships and five National Coach of the Year awards. His “The Power of Negative Thinking,” written with Bob Hammel, is out now.
I have two candidates for the greatest words in the English language: No. Don’t. And whatever you learned to the contrary in grammar class, there’s a time for doubling up negatives, using both those great negatives at once.
I’ve had players I’ve told over and over and over again: No, that is not what we want. The words “no”and “don’t” are important parts of the power of negative thinking. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times I said to a player: What is there about the word “no” that you don’t understand? What is there about the word “don’t” that you don’t understand?
Don’t and can’t are obviously negative phrases, but putting the words into use can bring very positive results. You have to develop enough common sense to know what you can’t do and focus on what you can. Know your limits. If you can’t do it, don’t, and say so.
(1) Challenging the platitudes with one word: why? My list of the most irritating platitudes starts with someone looking at a very messy situation and saying nonchalantly, “Oh, well, the sun will come up tomorrow.” My response: “Yeah, and it will flash brand new daylight on the same old mess unless something is done to clean it up.” The one-word question to keep in mind when these mindless, optimistic paeans to patience are thrown around is: Why? “Everything will be better tomorrow.” Why? “Everything will work out for the best.” Why? If there’s a good, reasonable answer to that one-word question, then you’re making progress. If you’re not… Why not?
Sometimes I tell people that no is not a bad word, and this is not well received, to say the least.