You gotta be willing to strikeout if you want to hit home runs.
Have you ever seen someone doing something successfully and thought, I want to do that? How many people want to be Oprah?
But how many times do you give something a try only to hit a few strikes and decide it is not for you?
Or maybe you decide even before you try, you know it is not for you because (fill in the blank).
Have you ever asked Steven Spielberg or Tom Brady how many times they struck out? We often see the results and miss the process.
Fear of not being good enough, not doing or knowing the right thing, not (fill in the blank) keeps us from trying so many things in our lives.
What would you do if you knew striking out did not matter?
(Steven Spielberg applied to University of Southern California, School of Film three times and was not admitted. Tom Brady was a sixth round draft pick, the 199th player picked in the 2000 draft. Not exactly home run starts.)
Edie, I love what Michael Jordan said: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Most know that the greatest player to play basketball got cut from his high school basketball team. Guess you could say he struck out!
This post is right on point Edie. It’s amazing how many of seek what I call “risk free success”. We all want to be successful, but we don’t want to do the things that are called for to achieve success, because we are afraid it might not work.
Thanks for this important reminder that batting practice is how you increase the number of times you can actually hit the ball when it’s your turn at bat!
Another great example Joe, thank YOU. Does anyone ever achieve success without “striking out”?
Edie,
Thanks for the great reminder that the best way to become great is to get experience and in order to get experience we will sometimes strike out but that is okay and is to be expected on the road to greatness.