19
Give It a Shot

FROM AN EARLY age we are taught that winning is important. But often we put so much pressure on ourselves to succeed that we become fixated on the prospect of failing. For instance, if you’ve ever interviewed for a job or tried out for a position on a team, think about the questions that went through your mind at some point: What if they don’t like me? What if I mess up? What if there are more-qualified candidates? What if they pick someone else? Getting caught up in this negative thought process puts us at a competitive disadvantage because our attention is focused on what can go wrong as opposed to what can go right.

When we let our fears and doubts get in the way, it’s easy to get psyched out and overwhelmed. At the extreme, our apprehension about the possibility of not achieving success may lead us to believe we shouldn’t even try. In other words, if we don’t take the risk of failing, then we know we can’t fail. While this may make intuitive sense, the converse is also true: if we don’t take the risk of failing, then we’ll never give ourselves the chance to succeed. The result in either case is regret about what we could have, should have, or would have done—if only we’d had more confidence in ourselves or been less scared to try.

I remember when I was playing my third season of Little League baseball and my dad—who was also the team coach—asked me if I wanted to pitch.

“You mean in a real game?” I asked.

“Yes, in a real game,” he replied.

“But I’ve never pitched before,” I said.

“Right. So this will be a great way to get some experience,” he said. “I’ll teach you how, and then we’ll practice until you get the hang of it.”

I told him that the plan sounded good, although I was terrified inside.

For the next several weeks, my dad gave me pitching lessons. In an effort to alleviate my fears, he asked, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

After giving it some thought, I replied, “I could walk every batter or get ten home runs hit off me and then we’d lose the game.”

Then he said, “So if that’s the worst thing that can happen, I’m not sure what’s stopping you. You’ll never know how good you can be unless you give it a shot.”

I knew he was right, but I still felt unsure of myself.

The day of my pitching debut I was a total wreck. In my heart I really wanted to pitch, but in my head I kept seeing a disaster in the making. On the car ride to the game, I asked my dad to pull over. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I said. He stopped on the side of the road and stepped out of the car with me as I got some fresh air.

Once I felt a little better, he asked, “Do you remember your first year in Little League when you learned how to hit a baseball?”

“Kind of,” I said.

“Well, trust me when I tell you that for weeks you refused to even put on a batting helmet,” he said. “You wanted to get on base but were scared to death of striking out or getting hit by a pitch.”

The memory of this experience started to come back to me. “I remember now. You told me something about stepping up to the plate,” I said.

“Yes,” replied my dad as we said in unison: “You can’t get a hit unless you step up to the plate.” We both laughed; then he said, “How about if we change the saying to ‘You can’t strike ’em out unless you get out there and start pitching’?”

This resonated with me—if I didn’t give it a shot, I’d never know how good I could be.

While the opposing team beat us pretty good that day, I managed to strike out a few batters. After that, I pitched for the rest of my Little League career. Even though I was not destined to play through high school, the experience did wonders for my confidence and was a lot of fun. Now I coach my own son, who is turning out to be quite a pitcher!

Get out of the trap of avoiding the risk of failure and get into the habit of taking a chance on success. Believe in yourself and trust your abilities. Put your best foot forward every time. Give yourself credit for trying and see what happens. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll never regret that you had the guts to give it a shot.

Take the risk of failing
and give yourself the
chance to succeed.

∼ What have you avoided doing in your life because you are afraid to fail?

∼ What is the worst thing that would happen if you failed?