The Art of War is one of the oldest military treatise books in existence. I read this a few years ago because many basketball coaches were doing so. It was written by the Sun Tzu, and there is some debate if Sun Tzu was one man or many men. Many believe that the Sun Tzu were a lineage of military leaders who put their collective wisdom into written form for the first time. The Sun Tzu were located in northern China.Quotes from The Art of War are italicized. Below are some of the excerpts from the book I found helpful.
The Sun Tzu says, "it is essential to know ourselves, to know our minds." I could not agree more. It is a lifelong journey that I started in my early 20's to try and know myself better. To reflect and understand the problems that I have in dealing with conflict which Sun Tzu believes is part of all life.
"Thus with one skilled at attack, the enemy does not know where to defend. With one skilled at defense, the enemy does not know where to attack." This is why it is important to be as skilled as possible on both ends of the basketball. A good defense and no offense will not win you games and have a good offense and no defense will also not win you games.
"Do not rely on their not coming. Rely on what we await them with. Do not rely on their not attacking. Rely on how we are unable to be attacked." Preparation, preparation, preparation!!!
"If one acts consistently to train the people, they people will submit. If one acts inconsistently to train the people, the people will not submit." This isn't saying, to me, that everyone should be treated equal, but consistently. If you are tough, you need to be tough with everyone about something. If you are light handed, you must also be that way with everyone in some manner.
All conflict requires that you know how to handle people. Whether it is people that you are competing against, or people that you are leading, you must handle them. It first begins with knowing yourself, being comfortable with yourself and being honest with yourself.
