Tip: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!
Almost everyone in the world has heard of Michael Jordan. He is probably one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived. But, did you know that he was cut from his high school basketball team when he was in the tenth grade because he was not good enough to make the team? I find that to be ironic! The man who turned out to be one of the five best professional basketball players of all-time had an occasion in his younger days when he could not even make the team!
I realize most of us grow to become better at what we are doing as we get older. Perhaps at fifteen, Michael Jordan had not yet begun to mature as a basketball player. It took a little more time for him to develop and mature in his personal basketball skills. I think it would be safe to say that, in time, he certainly did mature and went on to dazzle most of us with his athletic ability.
Michael Jordan was the one who made the quote famous, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I wonder if that philosophy was rooted in him very early on in life when he realized how painful it was not to try and risk failing? He knew from first-hand experience that it was better to try and fail than not try at all. Perhaps the pain and hurt he experienced when he was cut from his high school basketball team was the very fuel he needed to work harder and try out for the team again his junior year. He was not a quitter. He was one who wanted to experience the “thrill of victory” even if it cost him “the agony of defeat.”
I do not like pain in my life any more than you do. Which one of us would be so foolish as to say, “I think I will do something that will really hurt me?” Yet, without trying to do new and better things, we are destined to miss that shot, whether that is in life or business. The old saying is really true, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” If we are willing to take a risk, even if it costs us failure, we can still look at the situation as a learning experience which will help us grow and mature to the next level of life. We can then honestly say that we are better off for having tried rather than sitting back and not trying at all. I know in my own life that the chances and personal risks I have taken have caused me the greatest amount of personal growth.
A few years ago, I got involved in the real estate market. I had been reading books that basically told me that real estate investment was the only way to have real financial success in life. Someone told me, “Real estate is the best investment in the world because real estate never goes down in value!” Since that time the entire real estate market has collapsed and all I can say is that I am glad I was not in any deeper than I was! It turns out that most of the real estate market seminars that I attended were actually promoting more seminars rather than real estate. But, even through all that, I met two of the finest men I have ever met in my life. They have become dear friends who have helped me personally and professionally in my business. Our paths would never have crossed if I had not been willing to take the risk of getting involved in real estate.
I can assure you that real estate is not something in which I want to devote any more of my time. I have been called to develop, grow and work with my own company, Personality Insights, and that is going to be my focus to the very end of my life!
I encourage you not to feel bad for the mistakes you have made in your life. Just ask yourself what you have learned from your experiences and let them make you a better person. Getting involved in life is risky business, but it is well worth the risk!
Tip: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
