My son had a hockey mini-camp today with the Atlanta Thrashers. He has another one coming up tomorrow, too... He hasn't had the opportunities to skate that he had over the summer, or even last year... his skills are slipping a little.
While he was getting out of his hockey gear after the ice time, I asked him how he did...
"I rocked. Did you see my goals?"
I did. I also saw him fall down more times than I could count. I saw his shots denied repeatedly. While moving the puck, he put it into another drill area when he lost control of it...
None of that mattered to him... He didn't see those as failures... They didn't matter... The only thing that mattered was what he accomplished.
Many people quickly think of the genius of Thomas Edison... of the many spectacular successes he had as an inventor. But, he had MANY more spectacular failures.
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Thomas Edison saw failure as a step towards success... Kids are used to falling in order to walk and run, dropping the ball in order to throw and sliding to learn to stop. Unlike adults, they aren't so worried about making a mistake. I think that sometime around Junior High School kids start comparing their results. And they start to be self-conscious aboult their lack of perfection...
Successful inventors learn to get over that. They aren't afraid of failure... the see it as a step towards success. Entreprenuers seem to often have the same attitude. How many of them have a tremendous success... and then lose it all on another venture... and then do it all over and have a new wild success?
I'm not going to tie this in to some real estate concept... I'm just tossing it out there.
- Try
- Fall Down
- Get Up
- Learn
- Repeat
Striving for perfection is fine... we should all try... but stop being hung up on it.
Unless otherwise noted, all content of this blog is the property of Lane Bailey, ©2012 Lane Bailey.
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Good story, Lane. Oh to be a kid again.
Lane...so reminds me of that commercial out there where the kid is in the soccer game, and gets knocked down, passed around, etc, and when he comes off the field, Dad is there to say "hey, it's ok" and instead the kid says, "I was AWESOME!!!" You just have to love the innocence of a kid!
I was passing a high school yesterday and I saw all those kids hanging out, waiting for the bus, or their parents to pick them up. I thought, "wow, all the problems I THOUGHT I had in high school."
Kids, enjoy it will you can. Real life is just around the corner.
Great story! I can hardly wait to meet the guy! Heard so much about him!
Hockey is a great sport and kids need to have a passion for some sport. I hope you have many a day at the rink with him.
Lane - I learned a long time ago that perfection did not work for me. I strive for excellence, it's a much better fit. Thanks for a good reminder.
Michael in Alexandria - Northern Virginia's Best Small City
Lane,
Great story about attitude, persistence, and perseverance. Thanks for sharing this persoanl story. :)
Steve
Thom - I love that commercial... and live it. Except that I'm not the disconnected Dad that hasn't been to the games.
Thanks guys.