Michael Jeffery Jordan commonly referred to as MJ is a successful entrepreneur and a retired professional basketball player. Being one of the most popular basketball players, he has done 15 seasons with the NBA and won 6 championships with the Chicago Bulls. In the 1990's Michael played a major hand in popularizing the Chicago Bulls and the NBA worldwide.
Being the highest-paid athlete globally, Michael Jordan owns the infamous NBA, and the Charlotte Bobcats now named Charlotte Hornets-a basketball team based in North Carolina, USA.
Purchasing the Charlotte Hornets proved to pave the way for him to become a billionaire in 2010. He is also known to have endorsed Nike's Air Jordan sneakers and made it a success even before social media was a thing. He has also starred in the movies Space Jam and The Last Dance.
MJ followed the mantra that "Excellence speaks for itself". Hence, even after failing so many times, he didn't deter from his goals and continued to become the greatest basketball player of all time.
Below are some of the famous Michael Jordan quotes.
If you quit once it becomes a habit. Never quit!
Quitters never win, and winners never quit. Once you start quitting there is no going back, it becomes a habit or more rather an addiction and messes up your entire focus system and allows you the leniency to quit and not let you try your best and achieve your goals.
Negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
Instead of setting our own goals, we let people do that for us and set the bar of expectations so high for us that it becomes nearly impossible to meet them. This attempt to meet people's unnecessary expectations diverts us from our real goals and achievement. The fear of not meeting someone's expectations can hinder a person's growth and demotivate them to such an extent that it is not plausible for them to even try.
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.
Failures are the stepping stones to success. It is okay to fail but what is wrong is to stop trying and give up. Michael is trying to say that it is acceptable to fail multiple times than to give up even once.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Talent is just a factor in achieving success and not the only reason. But hard work, teamwork, and common sense are some factors that are equally important.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
Always dream with your eyes open, only wishing for something to happen won't make it happen. Perseverance, dedication, and hard work are the building blocks to success.
I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot… when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.
It is said that cross the bridge when you reach it, overthinking about the future will only distract you from the present and will lead you to be hanging in the middle of them and not let you reach your destination. It doesn't hurt to look at future possibilities and secure our future. But overthinking about the consequences will only scare you from the future and not let you take the risk you would have taken otherwise.
Don't let them drag you down by rumors, just go with what you believe in.
Rumours differ a lot from the actual truth or is an exaggerated version of the lie. Letting baseless rumours get to you will only make you conscious about yourself and force you to think about your every small action. So it is always better to just believe in yourself.
You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.
The healthiest competition is the one with yourself, to make yourself better than the 'you' yesterday is more important than being better than anyone else. Set your expectations and live up to them. When you compete with yourself and set higher goals, you tend to go out there, be the best you can, and meet those expectations not to disappoint yourself.
Learning's a gift, even when pain is your teacher.
You are never too old to learn, at every point in your life you will have something to learn about. But learning that costs you a lot more than just money and is very difficult to attain, even causes you pain is very hard to forget. So learning what causes you pain is a gift in disguise that never leaves your side.
It is easy to choose a path of anonymity and lead an empty life. But to strive hard and lead an impactful life, one needs a burning desire to realize dreams.
MJ is implying that staying anonymous or unknown is easy, being a 'nobody' is very easy but to thrive and make a name for yourself is difficult. To impact lives, you firstly need to be someone. For that, you ought to work hard for your dreams to turn them into reality.
It's heavy-duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can. People may not agree with that. I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do.
Living up to people's expectations and pleasing them is the most difficult thing to achieve. When everyone expects something of you, it is more important not to let them get to you. You go and do your best.
I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder the next time.
Fear is acceptable what is not is to let that fear get to you. Here MJ is comparing fear to an illusion, illusions are inquisitive and interesting and lure you to find more about them. Similarly, we should treat our fears as an illusion instead of being afraid of them, we should accept our fears with open arms.
Champions do not become champions when they win an event, but in the hours, weeks, and months, and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely a demonstration of their championship character.
A basketball game lasting for 2 hours doesn't prove a player's worth; his or her worth is proved by the hours that person puts into training every day. A game or the player's win is merely a portrayal or demonstration of years of hard work.
You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
Self-doubt has proved to be the greatest poison that eats you from inside. Before anyone else, we need to believe in ourselves. When we think low of ourselves, it is very difficult to achieve bigger things in life. Hence, we should expect great things from ourselves and motivate our self to achieve them instead of waiting for people and depending on them.
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
You will always expect setbacks in life; it is always you who will need to figure out how to overcome them. Getting frustrated and giving up just because of these mere obstacles will only lessen your will to achieve things. Instead, we need to deal with how to overcome them in order to become successful.
Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.
Life will throw a lot of negative situations at us. It is we who need to turn these situations in our favour. Opportunities will not always knock on our doors; sometimes, we need to go through each door to look for these opportunities we deserve. Life doesn't serve success on a platter for us. We need to cook this recipe of success with hard work and dedication.
The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether its proper technique, work ethic, or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, and your job, whatever you're doing
Whatever you are doing, be it school or job if we forget our fundamental values, morals, and technique the entire hierarchical system topples down and creates a mess so difficult to clean.
What is love? Love is playing every game as if it's your last!
MJ's love for basketball was nothing unknown to the world. Basketball wasn't just a game or profession for him; it was everything for him. He played every game with every spirit in him. His love for the game was so prominent that he considered every game to be his last and gave his best shot.
My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.
MJ's mother had great significance in his life. She always taught all her children the values of hard work, dedication, and perseverance. She taught them whatever you want to achieve; you should have the will to do it first in your head and then in your practical life.
I realize I'm black, but I'd like to be viewed as a person, and that is everybody's wish.
Being an African-American in the US, MJ suffered through racism from time to time. Like any other black person in the US, he wished to be treated like an equal and not be looked at with the black community's stereotype.
