"You miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take"
Wayne Gretzky
It might seem difficult to imagine now, but early on in his junior hockey career a young player by the name of Wayne Gretzky was having difficulty finding the net. Increasingly frustrated by his own lack of production, the great one limited his shots on goal to those he considered a sure thing. Noticing this, his coach at the time pulled the young star aside one day and shared with him some good advice. Gretzky would later recall, "He took me aside and told me, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take." As a result of his coach's advice, Gretzky began shooting, and scoring, more often. Today, he is rightfully considered to be the greatest to ever play the game. His 940 career goals and 2,027 assists place him on top of every National Hockey League scoring list. I never gave much thought to how the advice Wayne Gretzky once received could help transform my own life until recently. While my hockey playing days are now few and far between, I still remain a die-hard fan of the game. So how could the sage advice from a hockey coach change one's perspective? Well, just like Wayne Gretzky was struggling by only taking shots he considered a sure thing, many of us do that very same thing. I know I have. We might hold back on applying for that career advancing job thinking that it's a long shot. We might hesitate speaking words of apology to another thinking that that bridge is already burned beyond repair. At the end of the day, all we've really done is once again deny ourselves an opportunity. Like Gretzky giving up a chance to score, we ourselves pass up opportunities to move forward in life. It's not that difficult to do, holding off for a better opportunity often seems preferable to the pain and embarrassment of failure and rejection.
Who is not versed in that which is the morrow's, for what is your life? For a vapor are you, which is appearing briefly and thereupon disappearing.
James 4: 14, Concordant New Testament
The amazing thing about the story of the early career of Wayne Gretzky is that he was simply following traditional hockey wisdom. Don't waste your shots on goal. Only shoot when you see an opening. Had he ignored his coach and continued to follow conventional wisdom who knows where the great ones career path might have led him. If I were to have Wayne Gretzky as a life coach for a day I'm sure that he would impart some of that wisdom into my daily life. Apply for that job. Say what you need to say. It sounds all too simple, but many people have difficulty going through life with nothing but sure shots in front of them. They hesitate to take that risk when failure looms as an option. I was one of that crowd. Safety is knowing that whatever decision we make will not bring us the embarrassment of failure. Yet there are those who will say that failure is not acting upon each and every opportunity we come across. But what happens if we take that opportunity and it doesn't pan out? What happens if we apply for that job and are denied? What happens if we take the opportunity to speak to another person and they reject us? I'll tell you what happens...it hurts for a little while. That's it, the pain and embarrassment eventually go away and we're left with more opportunities to act upon. Remember also that each and every opportunity lost is a potential reward not taken. I was once again reminded of this recently as I contemplated developing a friendship. Definitely not a sure thing, but a opportunity nonetheless.
~Scott~
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