The Drive’s writers return from a brief hiatus with a whole week dedicated to the man that lived, breathed, spoke and coached with everything that our site hopes to incite and encourage within every reader: passion, inspiration, motivation and the persistent pursuit of success. Yes, the late James Valvano was an absolute gift to the sports world with his unorthodox style, innovative techniques and unquestionable love for the game of basketball. From NC State’s improbable run to win the 1983 NCAA National Championship to his famed (and proud) stand against cancer, “Jimmy V” had a knack for finding just the right words to captivate your mind and to fill your heart with hope. He was a coach, a leader and a mentor to us all. Thus, in the half-year anniversary of NCAA Basketball’s now famous “Jimmy V Week” in December, The Drive would like to invite all of our readers to salute Mr. Valvano again as we discuss Coach V’s Formula for Success and Motivation…
Jimmy V Week – Coach V’s Formula for Success, Motivation
You+Motivation = Success | Enthusiasm | Dream | Work Ethic
You + Motivation = Success
A simple model and a simple equation. With this basic formula, Jimmy V was able to encapsulate what every person dreams of, what every person works for and what every person strives to solve every day: success. Jimmy V claimed he had it written down on everything, from his locker room to his notebooks to his bookmarks. Everything. He had it there so he could remind himself every day that, no matter what life threw at him, he always knew there was only one thing standing between him and success: motivation. And with that, he embraced and embody it. He chose each and every day to not only push himself to achieve more, but to spread this drive to everyone around him until, contagious, it could fill a room (or a team) with the energy and will to be successful. No matter where it came from or how it manifested, motivation became Jimmy V’s secret to success. Not just motivation sometimes or partial motivation or motivation when it’s convenient, but full-fledged, you-can-feel-it-when-he-walks-in-the-room motivation that filtered into everything he did from the way he coached to the way he fought cancer.
He just knew Motivation was the key. He knew that motivation is what separates the person who simply completes a task from the person who pours their heart into every task they do regardless of its size, importance or timeline. He knew that motivation, born from dreams, was also the most critical ingredient that we needed to harness in order to ever accomplish those dreams. He knew that hard work didn’t beget success, but that lack of determination and dedication would absolutely mean you had no chance at success. He knew and believed that “every day, ordinary people do extraordinary things” and that motivation is what elevated them to success.
Those three elements of motivation (Enthusiasm, Dreaming, Work Ethic) are what Jimmy V believed were between us and success. If we let those drive us every minute of every day like Coach V did, we would bring ourselves to the precipice of success without a doubt. Strong and powerful words from a man who seemed to have mastered motivation and, with that, success. Thus, in our next three installments, The Drive’s writers will take a look deeper into each of those parts of motivation to figure out how Jimmy V incorporated those elements into his own life (and the lives of those around him) and to understand how we might be able to do the same.
Check out one of The Drive’s favorite speeches by Jimmy V!
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Thanks for checking out the “The Drive.” If you are inspired by Coach V’s greatest gifts of wisdom like we are, please check out The V Foundation to see if you can help. And if you enjoy the articles, we hope you’ll come back every week for quotes, pictures, people or moments that we hope can provide inspiration or motivation in your life. Or follow us on Twitter @TheDriveSports and look for #DailyDriver to get your daily dose of inner fire!
The Drive 
I love this! Those are the keys…enthusiasm, dreaming and work ethic!
Thanks! We couldn’t agree more. In fact, we’re actually writing an article diving a little bit more into each of those three elements in the next few days (two have already been posted). If you get a chance, please take a read through and let us know what you think!
What a wonderful blog. I spend hours on the innertet reading blogs, about tons of different subjects. I have to first of all give kudos to whoever created your website and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an post. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only a few posses and frankly you have it. The combination of informative and quality content is definitely extremely rare with the large amount of blogs on the innertet.
If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” syas a proverb, “who can surmount the pyramids—the eagle and the snail.” If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once. The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begain early enough. I often hear grown up people say “ I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so” , and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth. If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first
I’m not worthy to be in the same forum. ROTFL
My problem was a wall until I read this, then I smashed it.