The Origin and Impact of Michael Jordan’s Philosophy on Action
Michael Jordan’s assertion that “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen” represents far more than a motivational platitude. This quote encapsulates the philosophy that distinguished Jordan not merely as a talented athlete, but as someone who fundamentally understood the gap between aspiration and achievement. The quote likely emerged during his playing career in the 1980s and 1990s, a period when Jordan was consolidating his status as the greatest basketball player of all time while simultaneously becoming a global cultural icon. During this era, Jordan was frequently asked about his competitive drive, his relentless work ethic, and the intangible qualities that set him apart from other talented players. This quote likely arose from one of these countless interviews, where journalists attempted to decode the source of his dominance. What makes this particular statement so powerful is its deceptive simplicity—it categorizes human behavior into three distinct approaches to success, implicitly positioning action-takers as superior to wishful thinkers and casual wanters.
To understand the resonance of this quote, one must first appreciate the trajectory of Michael Jeffrey Jordan, born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan’s childhood was marked not by obvious predestination for athletic greatness but by a driving competitive fire that manifested in whatever arena he encountered. His father, James R. Jordan Sr., was a significant influence—a stern, disciplined man who managed a branch of First Citizens Bank and embodied the work ethic that his son would later become famous for. Tragically, James was murdered in 1993, an event that deeply affected Jordan and occurred during his first retirement from basketball. His mother, Deloris, provided the emotional counterbalance to his father’s sternness and remained a steady presence throughout his life. Jordan’s path to basketball stardom was not inevitable; during his sophomore year of high school, he was cut from the varsity basketball team, a rejection that became legendary in sports lore as a motivating force that drove him to prove his doubters wrong.
The context of Jordan’s rise to prominence is equally important for understanding his philosophy. When Jordan entered the NBA in 1984, drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the third overall pick, professional basketball was still climbing toward mainstream cultural dominance. The NBA Finals were not even broadcast live—they were tape-delayed—and the league struggled with drug problems and a perception that it lacked the fitness and skill standards of earlier eras. Jordan changed all of this through a combination of superhuman talent, relentless competitiveness, and an understanding of the entertainment value he could provide. He was also coming of age professionally during the Reagan era, when individualism, competition, and the ethos of making things happen through force of will were deeply embedded in American cultural messaging. His philosophy of action over passivity aligned perfectly with the zeitgeist of the time, but it also reflected something more personal: Jordan’s near-pathological competitive drive that teammates and coaches often described as bordering on cruelty.
One of the most fascinating and lesser-known aspects of Michael Jordan’s personality is the extent to which he weaponized seemingly casual conversations. Jordan was famous for using psychological manipulation as part of his competitive arsenal—he would remember minor slights, perceived disrespect, or even innocuous comments made by opponents and opponents’ families and convert these into internal motivational fuel. Former teammate Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson both noted that Jordan would sometimes create or exaggerate grievances simply to maintain his competitive edge. His coach, the legendary Phil Jackson, implemented the “Triangle Offense” partly because Jordan’s individual brilliance needed to be channeled in a way that didn’t alienate his teammates. Jackson also introduced Jordan to Buddhist philosophy and mindfulness concepts, which interestingly coexisted with Jordan’s hyper-competitive nature. Another little-known fact is that Jordan was an exceptional baseball player in his youth and harbored genuine aspirations to pursue professional baseball; he attempted to pursue this dream briefly in 1994 during his first retirement, signing with the Chicago White Sox organization and playing minor league baseball, an experiment that reinforced his basketball legacy by showing that even his “Plan B” couldn’t match his primary calling.
The quote’s cultural impact has been substantial, particularly in the realm of motivational speaking, self-help literature, and business training. Since the 1990s and especially in the digital age, the quote has circulated widely on social media platforms, motivational websites, and corporate training materials. It appears in countless variations and is often attributed to other figures including entrepreneur Walt Disney and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, though Jordan’s version has become the most canonical. The appeal of the quote lies in its practical categorization of human behavior: “wanting” is passive and dreamy; “wishing” is slightly more active but still involves dependency on external factors; “making” is the only truly active category. This framework resonates particularly with entrepreneurial culture, corporate achievement narratives, and self-improvement communities because it places control entirely within the individual’s hands. Unlike quotes that acknowledge luck, privilege, or circumstance, Jordan’s formulation suggests a pure meritocracy where outcomes depend solely on whether you belong to the “making it happen” category or the other two.
The philosophical underpinning of Jordan’s quote reflects what behavioral psychologists might recognize as action-orientation versus passive orientation, concepts that have deep roots in psychological research. Albert Bandura’s work on self-efficacy—the belief in one’s ability to