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The One-Day Contract: How to Add Value to Every Minute of Your Life
A life-changing guide to achieving your goals, by the 2013 NCAA champion college basketball coach and #1 New York Times bestselling author.
Rick Pitino is famous as one of the most dynamic and successful basketball coaches of our time, leading the University of Louisville Cardinals to the NCAA basketball championship in 2013, and is renowned for writing the #1 New York Times bestselling success and leadership book, Success is a Choice.
In his new book, The One-Day Contract, Pitino details his key to success, on the court and in life: to focus on making the most of each day, by creating a contract with yourself. Coach Pitino was able to turn Louisville into NCAA champions by applying this idea to everything he and the team did—every practice, every recruiting visit, every game preparation, every scouting report, every instruction that he gave players and coaches, and everything he did himself. Each day became just as important as reaching the national championship, and so, by honoring the one-day contract, he and Louisville moved through adversity toward their goal.
In this inspiring and practical guide, Coach Rick Pitino illustrates how to set your own one-day contract, and follow through to honor it for each day, each goal, and each interaction with another person. Pitino shows how to:
Establish focus as a discipline in everything you do: planning, strategy, priorities, and career advancement.
Discover the true key to success: not ambition, not wealth, not power, but humility.
Use technology wisely—but don't let it replace personal connection with the people you work and live with.
Own up to your problems, tell the truth and they will become part of your past. Lie and they become part of your future.
Make small changes and add value to every minute of your life.
The One-Day Contract will reshape the way you approach your job, your goals, and your life.
Rick Pitino is famous as one of the most dynamic and successful basketball coaches of our time, leading the University of Louisville Cardinals to the NCAA basketball championship in 2013, and is renowned for writing the #1 New York Times bestselling success and leadership book, Success is a Choice.
In his new book, The One-Day Contract, Pitino details his key to success, on the court and in life: to focus on making the most of each day, by creating a contract with yourself. Coach Pitino was able to turn Louisville into NCAA champions by applying this idea to everything he and the team did—every practice, every recruiting visit, every game preparation, every scouting report, every instruction that he gave players and coaches, and everything he did himself. Each day became just as important as reaching the national championship, and so, by honoring the one-day contract, he and Louisville moved through adversity toward their goal.
In this inspiring and practical guide, Coach Rick Pitino illustrates how to set your own one-day contract, and follow through to honor it for each day, each goal, and each interaction with another person. Pitino shows how to:
Establish focus as a discipline in everything you do: planning, strategy, priorities, and career advancement.
Discover the true key to success: not ambition, not wealth, not power, but humility.
Use technology wisely—but don't let it replace personal connection with the people you work and live with.
Own up to your problems, tell the truth and they will become part of your past. Lie and they become part of your future.
Make small changes and add value to every minute of your life.
The One-Day Contract will reshape the way you approach your job, your goals, and your life.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2013
29 people are currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Rick Pitino
24 books12 followersRick Pitino is the head basketball coach at the University of Louisville. He won the NCAA Championship in 2013 with the Louisville Cardinals and the 1996 NCAA Championship with the Kentucky Wildcats--the only basketball coach to win national titles at two different universities. He entered the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2013. Pitino also was head coach at Providence College during its remarkable NCAA tournament in 1987, and in the NBA was head coach of the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. He has written five previous business and leadership books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Success is a Choice.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 21, 2022
Giving yourself a one day contract is very motivating. Will you show your worth everyday? Or will you get fired? I believe Rick writes a very helpful book that is immensely practical.
If you live on a one day contract, you will constantly be reflecting on each day, each hour, each minute of your life and ask the question, “am I still employed? Did I make my time count?” And at the end of the day I feel like the principles Rick lays out are extremely important and applicable to basically anyone.
If you live on a one day contract, you will constantly be reflecting on each day, each hour, each minute of your life and ask the question, “am I still employed? Did I make my time count?” And at the end of the day I feel like the principles Rick lays out are extremely important and applicable to basically anyone.
October 20, 2015
The book is called the One-Day Contract. The idea itself seems intriguing enough on its own: treat each day as if you are on a one-day contract. How would that affect how you approach each day? Would it change your mindset if you knew you’d have to earn the next day’s renewal of that contract? Would it make you work harder or more efficiently?
The idea of a one-day contract is worth contemplating. I’m just not sure whether the idea of a one-day contract warrants an entire book. I think it would make a very concise chapter or long essay in Forbes, the New Yorker or some other high profile magazine. But of course you can’t make as much money selling an essay in a magazine.
The book really seemed to be about two things: providing Rick Pitino an opportunity to address his cheating scandal and capitalizing on the National Championship his Louisville Cardinals won in 2013. I feel incredibly cynical writing that but I also think Rick Pitino is a capitalist as much as he is a basketball coach.
Pitino spends a great deal of time talking about things like focus and discipline and learning from your mistakes. In fact he talks about these things over and over again. And over again. He talks about them in relation to getting through the media frenzy over his cheating scandal. He talks about them in relation to getting through his failure with the Celtics. He talks about them in refocusing his talented 2012 Final Four squad for another (successful) run at the National Championship. Pitino even ends up talking about specific games.
I’m sorry, but how is any of this specific or unique to Pitino? Fact is, it isn’t. You get the feeling reading the book that Mike Krzyzewski or John Calipari or Roy Willliams could have written this book citing the same ups and downs as a basketball coach. I read the book to hear an interesting or unique perspective on a discipline towards life. While treating each day like it’s a one-day contract is an interesting idea I don’t think it warrants an entire book.
I could hear the book pitch while I was reading the book too: “OK Rick, you just won a National Championship – time to write another bestselling book. What’s our angle here?”
“Well, [insert book editor name here] I was thinking about addressing my scandal, my failure with the Celtics, and of course mentioning the fact that I’m the first NCAA coach to lead two different schools to the National Championship.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s all great, but how do you sell the idea of the book? You need an angle…how about the idea of a one-day contract?? Yeah, that’s the ticket….”
The idea of a one-day contract is worth contemplating. I’m just not sure whether the idea of a one-day contract warrants an entire book. I think it would make a very concise chapter or long essay in Forbes, the New Yorker or some other high profile magazine. But of course you can’t make as much money selling an essay in a magazine.
The book really seemed to be about two things: providing Rick Pitino an opportunity to address his cheating scandal and capitalizing on the National Championship his Louisville Cardinals won in 2013. I feel incredibly cynical writing that but I also think Rick Pitino is a capitalist as much as he is a basketball coach.
Pitino spends a great deal of time talking about things like focus and discipline and learning from your mistakes. In fact he talks about these things over and over again. And over again. He talks about them in relation to getting through the media frenzy over his cheating scandal. He talks about them in relation to getting through his failure with the Celtics. He talks about them in refocusing his talented 2012 Final Four squad for another (successful) run at the National Championship. Pitino even ends up talking about specific games.
I’m sorry, but how is any of this specific or unique to Pitino? Fact is, it isn’t. You get the feeling reading the book that Mike Krzyzewski or John Calipari or Roy Willliams could have written this book citing the same ups and downs as a basketball coach. I read the book to hear an interesting or unique perspective on a discipline towards life. While treating each day like it’s a one-day contract is an interesting idea I don’t think it warrants an entire book.
I could hear the book pitch while I was reading the book too: “OK Rick, you just won a National Championship – time to write another bestselling book. What’s our angle here?”
“Well, [insert book editor name here] I was thinking about addressing my scandal, my failure with the Celtics, and of course mentioning the fact that I’m the first NCAA coach to lead two different schools to the National Championship.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s all great, but how do you sell the idea of the book? You need an angle…how about the idea of a one-day contract?? Yeah, that’s the ticket….”
May 13, 2025
Didn't have a good reason to read/listed to this one, kind of fell into my lap after listening to Success is a Choice. This one has better content in my opinion, but still sense it's a bit of a cash grab after Pitino won the national championship with Louisville -- I can't hold it against him, personally. Similar to Success is a Choice, it's mostly advice on framing your day to day life to set yourself up for success, intermixed with Rick's anecdotes about coaching and his own successes.
The four most memorable parts of my listen:
1. There's a specific section on phone usage and social media - how it is an extremely powerful distraction and largely does not provide meaning to our lives. Pitino and Crawford wrote this book in 2013 and this part sounded like it could have been written yesterday. So 10+ years on it is even more of an issue for a greater portion of the global population. This section helped me reframe my relationship with my phone for at least a couple days; the problem, as always, is making lasting change.
2. The idea of a "One-Day Contract" for each day of your life is useful and something I want to adopt. Even if it's just taking time at night to write down 2-3 of the most important things to accomplish the next day, I think that's a strong starting point to achieving satisfaction every day.
3. I surprisingly found myself getting a little emotional when Rick recounted the moment Kevin Ware broke his leg in the Elite Eight against Duke. That moment really did spur an amazing sequence of events for Louisville. I remember watching that game and the following ones in the Kappa Sig frat house. Good times.
4. The narrator on this audiobook is comically bad. I couldn't get the image of a John Goodman villain out of my head, particularly the one from O Brother, Where Art Thou? But more so than a distracting accent, I can't believe the editors allowed the butchering of pronunciations this narrator committed. John "WOO-den," "Georgie" Dieng, "LOO-EE-ville," and more. Absolutely insane. The narrator and the editors who gave the green light should be ashamed. Even Ricky P deserves some blame here. Rick should re-record both of his books himself as soon as he retires from coaching.
The four most memorable parts of my listen:
1. There's a specific section on phone usage and social media - how it is an extremely powerful distraction and largely does not provide meaning to our lives. Pitino and Crawford wrote this book in 2013 and this part sounded like it could have been written yesterday. So 10+ years on it is even more of an issue for a greater portion of the global population. This section helped me reframe my relationship with my phone for at least a couple days; the problem, as always, is making lasting change.
2. The idea of a "One-Day Contract" for each day of your life is useful and something I want to adopt. Even if it's just taking time at night to write down 2-3 of the most important things to accomplish the next day, I think that's a strong starting point to achieving satisfaction every day.
3. I surprisingly found myself getting a little emotional when Rick recounted the moment Kevin Ware broke his leg in the Elite Eight against Duke. That moment really did spur an amazing sequence of events for Louisville. I remember watching that game and the following ones in the Kappa Sig frat house. Good times.
4. The narrator on this audiobook is comically bad. I couldn't get the image of a John Goodman villain out of my head, particularly the one from O Brother, Where Art Thou? But more so than a distracting accent, I can't believe the editors allowed the butchering of pronunciations this narrator committed. John "WOO-den," "Georgie" Dieng, "LOO-EE-ville," and more. Absolutely insane. The narrator and the editors who gave the green light should be ashamed. Even Ricky P deserves some blame here. Rick should re-record both of his books himself as soon as he retires from coaching.
May 27, 2023
3.5. Started this one with my husband on a long car ride and finished it up while doing gardening chores. I am not a sports follower married to a UK fan so this would not have been a typical choice for me. I know very little (good or bad) about the author. I thought it had some good sound advice. Nothing I hadn’t heard before, but good reminders on many principles I agree with. I liked the idea of treating each day like a contract to remind yourself to be your very best. The audio version did bother me a bit on this one. Pitino speaks at the intro then another reader finishes the book. I found this distracting as I preferred the authors reading voice.
January 18, 2023
Very informative perspective from a successful basketball coach…kinda awkward hearing about his recruitment tactics and discussing the 2013 National Championship win knowing that following this book being published, the Louisville recruit prostitution scandal and Adidas scandal broke and they were forced to vacate the championship, final four appearances, and many wins. Especially how he ended the book describing looking at and admiring the championship trophy…
(*”Does someone wanna tell him…?”*)
(*”Does someone wanna tell him…?”*)
February 28, 2023
I loved reading this book. Especially where it explained the social media effect, how to shut yourself up from external pressure, how to live past adversities, and how to stay focused even when everyone is going in a particular direction.
I learned that if we live every day like a day's contract, we would achieve more, shove out distractions and put more effort into delivering.
And this also helps us take things a step at a time
I also learned not to feel guilty when you are having those healthy distractions and to always tell yourself the truth and live with a positive mindset.
I learned that if we live every day like a day's contract, we would achieve more, shove out distractions and put more effort into delivering.
And this also helps us take things a step at a time
I also learned not to feel guilty when you are having those healthy distractions and to always tell yourself the truth and live with a positive mindset.
June 20, 2017
I am not sure why I read this book. I think I just needed something upbeat. Funniest part of the book is when Rick Pitino says that he saves all year to send his friends and family on a vacation. Does he really need to save when he received 70 million from the Boston Celtics and currently makes 5.5 million a year for the University of Louisville Cardinals? If he does then he may need a good financial manager.
April 25, 2022
It's a helpful guide to get the most out of your life by being focused and positive. The chapters are neatly laid out and inspiring, and we're I to look no further that would be just fine.
The wild thing is that according to the NCAA that 2013 championship never happened. The scandal that came long after the book was published wiped away the whole year and ended in the coach leaving the school.
So ... what do we make of the two truths? The story of inspiration and the legacy that followed?
The wild thing is that according to the NCAA that 2013 championship never happened. The scandal that came long after the book was published wiped away the whole year and ended in the coach leaving the school.
So ... what do we make of the two truths? The story of inspiration and the legacy that followed?
July 24, 2019
I picked this CD book from the Dollar Tree, and thought I might help me become more productive in my everyday life as well as complete reading one self help book a month. It has. It has a lot of good ideas and practices that I am excited to put into practice.
July 1, 2017
Awesome
August 5, 2017
couldn't resolve disconnect from narrator and pitino voice
September 15, 2017
Great book. Everyone should read. Humility is key. Think of every day as having a one day contract.
October 3, 2017
I had my doubts about this one, but turns out I loved it. Humility and appreciating others were the main take away messages I got.
April 13, 2019
I thought it was better than a 4 but not quite a 5. This book had a couple good ideas so I thought it was very much worth the read.
November 25, 2023
I’m a die hard Kentucky Fan, Rick is one of my favorite coaches in this world. I love reading and learning about his philosophy and life.
May 20, 2020
It was a good book! Help me want to live each day to the fullest. To make each day the best.
April 9, 2015
The book was a combination of a self help motivational book and a chronicle of the road to winning the 2013 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship which as a Louisville basketball fan I did enjoy. Whether you want to implement the one-day contract or not, Pitino's wisdom from coaching for over 30 years is on display in this book and everyone can learn some valuable lessons.
Concerning the reader of the audio book, I am going to have to give hime ZERO stars. How can you mispronounce John Wooden and Dick Vitale? I don't know if he was trying to effect a New York accent, but it came across as a bad interpretation of a Boston accent. How is that for irony??? Also, no post-audio editing was done. Here are just a few examples: Chane Behanan was "Chain", Gorgui Dieng was "Georgie Dang", Bellermine was "Bellermean" and he kept referring to UofL as "the UofL". That may come across as picky but if you are reading, get it right!!!
Concerning the reader of the audio book, I am going to have to give hime ZERO stars. How can you mispronounce John Wooden and Dick Vitale? I don't know if he was trying to effect a New York accent, but it came across as a bad interpretation of a Boston accent. How is that for irony??? Also, no post-audio editing was done. Here are just a few examples: Chane Behanan was "Chain", Gorgui Dieng was "Georgie Dang", Bellermine was "Bellermean" and he kept referring to UofL as "the UofL". That may come across as picky but if you are reading, get it right!!!
January 30, 2014
In this book coach Rick Pitino talks about his coaching style, the players he coaches, and how he lives his life in general. Pitino emphasizes how to never waste time for no reason and how to utilize every oppurtunity that you are given to the fullest. Pitino begins the book by talking about his best week ever, which included winning the national championship with Louisville, having his horse compete in the Kentucky Derby, and his son getting hired as the head coach at Minnesota. He follows this up by stressing the importance of many aspects of life, such as working hard and having humility. Throughout the book he shows the importance of not getting too full of yourself as it can lead to your demise. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it teaches many valuable lessons. I would certainly recommend it to anyone, not just sports fans.
March 30, 2014
Easy to read and inspiring. Loved the chapter on managing distractions. I also enjoyed how he mentioned how people reached out to him during his difficult times. Positive and motivational. One thing I like about his writing and approach is that he doesn't shy away from telling you that if you want to be a success it is going to take a lot of hard work. There are no shortcuts on the road to greatness!
October 24, 2013
It's an enjoyable book. You can read my column (or a review) about Pitino's book, appearing in the Middlesboro (Ky.) Daily News (print and online edition) on Thursday, Oct. 24. Here's the link:
http://www.middlesborodailynews.com/n...
http://www.middlesborodailynews.com/n...
October 5, 2013
excellent book-------by far the best one Coach Pitino has written, (all of his books are good) but this one speaks volumes about how to react to adversity and how to get the most out of life...........I give it 5 stars...........
January 21, 2014
Such a great book. Not only do you learn about Rick Pitino and his coaching style on a more personal level, you learn more about all of his players and friends, and about the game of basketball. Very well written book.
August 25, 2016
Great book. I love the 1 day contract idea. The a day contract system ties in well with Dennis Deaton's Visioneering thoughts and David Allen's 'Getting Things Done' processes. Well worth the effort.
May 3, 2014
I have been inspired to make some changes on how I approach each day.
June 14, 2016
Pitino is an inspiration. Makes you want to get out of bed and face the day with enthusiasm.
June 2, 2014
5.7.14 - 6.2.14
October 25, 2014
This book is a must read for everyone especially teenagers and college aged so that they can learn early on how to set the stage to succeed and what success really means.
January 2, 2015
makes you look to be better
It was a little long with the chapters but it was a good read. Makes you want to prepare for the next day.
It was a little long with the chapters but it was a good read. Makes you want to prepare for the next day.
Read
March 5, 2015Excellent.
April 9, 2016
Listened to this book: B.L.U.F. = be humble(?). Written post sex-scandal as a spin that things weren't as bad as press stated; you decide...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews