Today, we will learn how to put on our socks.

There’s a story behind that.

This is your daily message from Chad number 1140 to upgrade your mental game today by telling yourself a better story, because the most important story you hear is the story you tell yourself. And this message is dedicated to Allan and Linda Zwirn.

Here’s the upgrade:

You want to skip ahead to the big moment, but upgraded thinking knows the way you do anything is the way you do everything.

Here’s the story:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived at UCLA as a freshman, one of the most gifted players in the country. His first lesson from John Wooden—arguably the greatest coach in the history of college basketball—was not a play or a drill. It was how to put on his socks.

Kareem remembers the new players exchanging worried glances. Then Wooden showed them: pull the sock tight, smooth every wrinkle, work it around the toe and the heel. Because a wrinkle causes a blister. A blister puts you on the bench. And a player on the bench loses games. To make the point, Wooden quoted Benjamin Franklin: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.”

Imagine it. You came to prove you were special, and you’re sat down and taught to put on socks. But the sock was never the point. It was a test—whether a man would bring his full attention to the invisible work that no one applauds. Nobody cheers a smooth sock. But over a season, a hundred neglected details decide a championship.

Another player, Bill Walton, later put it: “Actually, the first thing you’re taught is how to put on your socks. It was so drilled into you it became the obvious place any lesson started.” Swen Nater, who backed up Walton and went on to a long pro career, says he still thinks of Coach Wooden every single morning—when he puts on his socks. Fifty years later it’s not the championships that come to mind every day, it’s the socks. Because Nater understood what most people never do, you never leave a foundation. Once you believe the way you do anything is the way you do everything, you can’t fake excellence in one room and get sloppy in another.

The better story to tell yourself is, “Smooth the sock, tie the lace, Win the inch, then win the race.” You are always training a standard. The only question is which one. Kevin Kelly in Excellent Advice for Living says: “Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits.” This ties back to Wooden: teaching elite athletes to put on socks correctly sounds absurd until you realize it’s about installing automatic standards that prevent avoidable failure. Don’t depend on inspiration. Install habits.

I mentioned Wooden in a similar lesson in message #830 that would compliment this story. Now tell me a story of the small things done well to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and ask them, “What is one foundational lesson you’ve never forgotten?” You can get a free copy of my book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message and hundreds of others are always available at www.fromchad.com.