Coaching Corner: Forging through Failure

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

The environment out there is set up for us to look at our failures. It’s inevitable that we’ll focus on what we’re not doing first, rather than what we’re doing. I found an article recently called “The Ten Reasons Why We Fail” by David DiSalvo and with it I learned a lot. I am asking you to now look at your approaches to failures. Not tomorrow, but today.

Failures are the exact reason why people do succeed. Not just the Michael Jordan’s of the world, but for every successful person out there attached are plenty of failures. With every change you make in your lifestyle, there will be at least one failure.
What I am getting here is that forging through failures comes down to how you look at them. How you make your approach. Maybe you’ve never been successful at controlling your night time eating or the steady exercise plan has never been a part of your playbook. Those are only missed shots and with every miss, there will always be that next opportunity.

What I am saying is that if you choose to see a failure as positive; a learning experience – you will grow stronger, better and wiser. Failures are learning experiences that will fuel your success. Get up this weekend and take another angle on something you’ve failed at. Maybe use the backboard this time or ease it in for a layup. Remember that not everyone can slam dunk, but once you look at your failures differently that hoop will open up.