Winners can fail

As an avid NFL football fan, I watched both playoff games over the weekend even though my team was no longer in contention. The winners were advancing to the big dance, the Super Bowl.

Although both games were exciting to watch, I was still amazed to see how many seemingly simple mistakes were made by players who get paid an unfathomable amount of money each year. Multimillion dollar contracts that could support all the small businesses in our town of Truckee, CA throughout this pandemic.

Countless times, wide receivers dropped passes that could have been caught by high schoolers.
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Did these mistakes deter the quarterback or wide receiver to move on to the next play and try it again? Absolutely not. In fact, many times, that same receiver would make an unbelievable catch on the next play that made you appreciate how driven and determined they are to help their team win.

Highly talented professionals are not perfect and will make mistakes. Although they set high expectations for themselves, they understand that they can never give up when things do not go their way.

Successful professionals in the business world approach their jobs with the same mentality. To be successful, they need to be willing to stick their necks out and take chances. Some of their efforts may fail, but that is part of growing and succeeding. They learn from their mistakes and keep moving forward.

I see too many professionals stall out with their forward progress due to fear of making mistakes. They choose not to reach out to certain prospective clients out of concern of “offending” them or not getting a response at all. Many choose not to speak on panels or write articles for fear of “flopping” in front of their audience. Some struggle with asking for the business due to the possibility that the prospect might say “no.”

This type of fear stifles growth. Living in the safe, conservative bubble may seem like the easy way out, but it makes growing one’s business so much more difficult.
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Perhaps this could be the year for many to start focusing on what can go right versus focusing on what might go wrong. Take the fear of making mistakes out of the equation. Mistakes and failures will happen. It is how we all learn and get better.

If these top talented NFL wide receivers entered a big game worry about dropping the ball, they would not only have a hard time helping their team win, but they would soon be on the bench watch the game from the sidelines.
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Winning players never worry about dropping the occasional pass. They find a way to make up for it by making a spectacular catch on the next play.