Gregg Popovich on managing life

Quotes of Gregg Popovich from an interview 

“Everybody’s pretty different. I’ve always thought of myself as a non-lifer. You know, there are lifers – guys that it’s in their veins from morning ’til night. Larry Brown is a lifer, Hubie Brown, those kind of guys. They’re real basketball people. I’m sort of a pseudo basketball person (laughs). I enjoy it. I love the guys. I like going to practice. I like competing. But when it’s done, it’s done. Some people are able to do that, some aren’t. But I’ve always felt that if you don’t let it go, you’ll drive yourself crazy. 
We try to pass that on to our players. Not to get excited in wins, not to get depressed in losses. Just keep moving forward. And Steve [Kerr] did a good job of that this year. He called me one time and said, ‘Pop, this is easy! You guys always acted like it was tough. This is easy!’ That was after he’d won about 19 in a row or something.”

 Keep moving forward.

There are a lot of guys and teams in this league that I couldn’t even walk in the gym and try to coach ’cause I’m gonna be too direct. And that’s what we believe. We don’t blow any smoke. If you did poorly, we tell you. If you did well, we’re gonna tell you. If Timmy isn’t rebounding or whatever, I’m gonna get on him just like I will the 11th or 12th guy on the team. There are a lot of stars that can’t handle that. They don’t want to be criticized at all. Timmy is comfortable enough in his own skin to know that I’m gonna tell him right between the eyes what’s going on at any particular point. But he also knows that win or lose, when it’s done, I’m gonna love him. We’re gonna go get a bite to eat, we’re gonna think about our families, or whatever else is going on in the world. You have to have that component. If it’s just on somebody and criticizing somebody, it’s not gonna work.
Be direct with people, whether things go your way or they don't 

“Giving out awards after every game or every clinic for no reason whatsoever, what I think it takes away from people in this world is the education you get from disappointment as much as winning as and everything going your way all the time. Like no matter what you do is gonna be rosy. That’s just not life. You learn how to handle a little bit of disappointment, or handle a loss, and figure it out whether it’s with your coach or parents or whoever the mentor might be. I think that’s a huge lesson that’s missed in a lot of kids.
It's impractical to think everything you'll have will be easy. Because it won't be.  


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