I realize that the Super Bowl has just finished and many have been in football fever, but at our house, it is all about basketball. My son is on a YMCA team, my husband co-coaches and I keep stats. (Go team Purple!)
Basketball is a family topic almost every day during the season. In those conversations, we will frequently roll around to talking about Michael Jordan. My husband and I grew up cheering for the Bulls and watching Jordan sail through the air. However, like many sports greats, Jordan has failed many times. In this video he says”
I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career
I've lost almost 300 games
26 times I have been trusted to take the game winning shot . . . and missed
I've failed over and over and over again in my life
and that is why I succeed.
I don't know of many people that would look at Jordan as a failure in basketball. I would venture to guess that most people have seen Jordan in one way or another – he is all over T.V. commercials even today – but you may not have followed his career. According to Wickipedia:
Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include
– five MVP [most valuable player] awards,
– ten All-NBA First Team designations,
– nine All-Defensive First Team honors,
– fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances,
– three All-Star Game MVP awards,
– ten scoring titles,
– three steals titles,
– six NBA Finals MVP awards, and
– the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.
He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press‘s list of athletes of the century. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 6, 2009 and was inducted on September 11, 2009.[3]
Do you get what he is saying in his video about failure? In order to have successes (and in his case major successes) you have to try. Trying sometimes means failure. However, if you continue to believe in yourself and learn from those failures, your successes will outweigh them over the long haul.
What do you want to accomplish today? Go out and do it and don't be afraid to fail. I believe in you.
For years, kids sang “I wanna be like Mike” — Maybe you did too. Enjoy
Until we talk again,
Live Fully — Love Openly — Laugh Often — Leverage Your Brilliance — Connect Authentically — Get Your Message Out — Serve with Impact — Prosper Everyday
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