I don't believe in luck, I believe in preparation.
Interpretation
Success comes from being well-prepared rather than relying on chance.
Bobby Knight emphasizes that luck is not a reliable factor in achieving success; instead, thorough preparation and hard work are what lead to favorable outcomes. This perspective underscores the idea that one should focus on what can be controlled—preparation and effort—rather than leaving success to the whims of luck.
In practice
During a motivational speech to students about achieving their goals.
My dad was a very quiet person, and unbelievably tough. But my grandmother gave me my first look at negative thinking to bring about positive results. When I was just a little guy, anytime I came to my grandmother and said I wish for this or that, Grandma would say, 'If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.'
Your biggest opponent isn't the other guy. It's human nature.
People want national championship banners. People want to talk about Indiana being competitive. How do we get there? We don't get there with milk and cookies.
When we're playing a good scoring center, we tell our team that it is not our defensive man's job to stop the center. It's the responsibility of our perimeter people to stop the ball from going inside.
Failure, to me, is not having the desire to try. Having the desire to try is in it own way success.
I'm not sure that an athlete is prepared to be a role model. He has a lot of attention paid to him that he shouldn't have, and then the athletes tend to think of themselves as better than they are.
Be ready to revise any system, scrap any method, abandon any theory, if the success of the job requires it.
The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same.
What makes the difference between a great player and just a normal player is dedication, work, commitment.
Like I've said many times before, I'm always more likely to remember goals for their importance rather than if they're beautiful or not. Goals scored in finals, for example.
I always knew I had something special.
Everyone wants to be a movie star or a model, to be in the papers, but few realise just what hard work it is, getting up early, and so on.
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