Failure. It’s a word with immediate negative connotations. An ugly word, a nasty word. Not something anyone typically strives for, and when it is achieved, it’s usually not what was planned. Yet we all fail, and quite often at that. Even Michael Jordan, the best who ever lived. Watch the video again, listen to the numbers he throws out. Listen closely to all the times that he failed. As much as failure is no fun, it’s simply a part of life and there’s no getting around it. If HE has failed that many times, is it logical to accept that you and I are going to fail as well? I think so. However, there are two types of failures. The kind that makes you worse, and the kind that makes you better. The failure that makes you worse is the failure of a missed shot, a turnover, a bad decision, a poor grade on a test, that you do nothing about. You accept the failure as a failure and nothing else. You do nothing do improve on that failure. You let it shake your confidence and your game. The kind of failure that makes you better is when you take all of these situations, and you improve upon them. You use each failure to fuel your fire, to motivate you to assess what went wrong, to get better. The only true difference is your attitude to that failure. How do you approach that failure? Is it a destroyer or a builder? I remember back in high school we were playing in a summer league and it came down to the final few seconds. I had the ball in my hand, I made a move to the basket, and I got fouled. There were only a few seconds left and we were down by 1. I missed them both and we lost the game. I am a notoriously bad loser simply because I hate to lose. I remember clearly that I had a few of my teammates drive with me that day to the game, which was about 25 minutes from home. I didn’t say a word the entire way home because I was disgusted and furious with myself. As we got closer, one of my teammates said “Why are you so mad, it’s just a summer league game.” Instead of ripping his head off because I simply couldn’t relate to that type of attitude, I just ignored it. Inside, I vowed to myself that it would never happen again. So during my workouts I would spend a little extra time on my free throws in pressure situations (especially after I was tired). The upcoming season, I found myself in the same exact position. Except this time it was a real game, and the outcome truly counted. I stepped up to the line. Two things flashed through my head. First, the summer failure, and second, all the work I did since then to improve on that failure. I took my dribbles, took a few deep breaths, and calmly sank them both for the win. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. That is why I succeed.
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