Whoosh! The hockey puck left my stick towards the goals, but soared high missing the net by just 3 inches. Another shot… Clank!.. The puck hit the post… Another shot…Clank! it hit the post again. I let out a mild yell of frustration and kept skating.
Have you ever felt that you were not achieving what you wanted in your life or business? You kept trying and trying and kept failing and failing? Sometimes it feels we are not getting anywhere.
Today was my first time playing ice hockey in almost a year, and I really wanted to score a goal. I kept taking shot after shot to no avail. Many of the shots missed the net entirely, others got closer but clanked off the goal post and then the ones that were on target, the goalie continued to stop.
And then with just a few minutes left to play in the game, I had one more chance to score. I raced the puck down the ice on a breakaway. I came in on the right side of the goal and deked to the left. The goalie slid across the face of the goal but I was just a step ahead of him and backhanded the puck across the goal line into the back of the net. GOAL!!
I had taken more than 10 shots and missed almost every single one of them. I had received some great passes that I couldn’t put into an open net. But most importantly, I did not give up, I kept skating hard. I kept taking shots, and at almost the last possible minute, I put the puck in the back of the net.
What would have happen if I had just got frustrated after missing all those shots and gave up? I would have missed out on scoring a goal.
How often do we get frustrated and walk away when our first few shots don’t go in?
We get frustrated when a girl turns us down for a date. We get frustrated when we are rejected trying to sell a prospect our product. The truth is, the majority of actions that we take in life, do not yield the desired results. Often times, there is a learning curve that must be climbed, but so often we give up before we get very high up the learning curve. We get frustrated and stop.
What would happen if people realized that most shots they take in life are not going to work out and what if it was okay because as long as they stick with it, they will find success. When we realize that situations are not life and death, we don’t take them so seriously. We just keep showing up and staying in the game. We keep making our sales calls, we keep asking girls out.
You can fail 85% of the time and still be highly successful. One of the best hockey players in the world, Alexander Ovechkin that plays for the Washington Capitals has a 15.1% shooting percentage. For every 100 shots that he takes, only 15 will find the back of the net. In other words he fails to achieve his goal almost 85% of the time. And how much does he get paid to fail 85% of the time? He gets paid 14.5 MILLION dollars a year. All he has to do is show up and do his work everyday.
What would happen if you showed up every single day, whether you felt like it or not? What if you realized that all you can control is taking your shots? When we take our shots, the impossible becomes possible. When we take our shots day after day the possible turns into the miraculous.
You are going to fail you are going to get knocked down. Some shots are going to miss the net entirely, some shots are going to clank off the post but when you are taking your shots, you get more engaged and excited. And as you get more engaged and excited, you will begin to get more focused, put in more work and some of the shots will find the back of the net.
Keep taking your shots, keep working hard, keep failing, and eventually you will score!
Remember You’re okay, start doing what’s possible in Your life and you will create miracles!
Joseph