Give Life Your Best Shot
Wayne Gretzky is arguably the greatest hockey player of all time. There is no question he is the greatest scorer in the history of the game of hockey. Gretzky was a magician with the puck. He could score goals or set up others to score from what many would think were somewhat impossible angles. One of the best quotes attributed to him is “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” While it was an axiom for how he played the game of hockey, it has equal application in the way we choose to play the game of life.
As humans we can so easily talk ourselves out of many situations. We will convince ourselves we don’t have the ability to do something well. Because we have not been successful in a job search to date, we’ll refuse to send in our resume’ for that next job opportunity. We don’t make that call to that person we want to meet, or that girl with whom we want to have a date, because we’re convinced they’re going to reject us. Basically we have taken ourselves out of the game before it has even started.
Our culture looks to benchmark results. Perhaps in industry this makes sense when a company has spent a lot of money on a project and wants to see if their expenditures are meeting with their expectations of return on their investment. However, in looking to move our life forward and attaining what we truly want, it is a terrible way to approach things. Every attempt we make helps us for the next time we move forward with an activity and increases our learning as to what works best for us and what does not. There never should be a benchmark on ones desire to participate in their own life.
As we move forward into a new month, take the time to think through those activities you have put off doing simply because you feel if you try to complete them your results will not be met with success. Redefine what success is in terms of the activities you are looking to complete. So, often we look to have our results be our end goal right from the start. Most items that are worthwhile achieving take a series of steps to complete. Recognizing that, and rewarding yourself for each step you take forward, (even if it is a simple acknowledgement to yourself that you are one step closer to your goal), will provide you the boost to try that next step in the process.
We all have those items in our life we would like to accomplish. Some may appear to come our way by circumstance, others are by choice. However, once we have committed to the ones we have identified as ones we want to accomplish, the only way we will reach them is by giving them our best shot. And, that may mean making attempts in ways we never imagined or of which we thought we were capable.
