Opportunity and Rejection

Wayne Gretzky.

I believe that many of you will recognise the name, some of you might know what he is famous for, some of you probably know more about him than I do... But for the purposes of today's blog post, all you need to know is this: He was so good at what he did (playing professional ice hockey) that he is referred to simply as "The Great One" and, testimony to his brilliance, is the fact that no player, anywhere, ever, wears the #99 shirt - when Gretzky retired, his number was globally retired also.

The geezer was good.

I'm obsessed by psychology. As somebody who studies sport science I am made increasingly aware of the physical limits of the human body and, although we can push ourselves to incredible levels physically, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that human athletes might be getting close to being as good as they're going to be... physically. Which means, if we want to go further, we have to look at fully exploring our mental capacity

I believe mentality is what truly seperates winners from losers, which brings me back to Wayne Gretzky: He once uttered the word which are plastered on to motivational posters all over the world

"you miss 100% of the shots you never take"

And it's true - you can spend your entire lifetime contemplating whether something is a good idea, you can weigh up the pros and cons and try and calculate your risk versus reward and play around with probabilities until you're blue in the face. But the fact of the matter is, unless you're willing to act, unless you're willing to take the physical steps that are necessary to achieve your goal you're never EVER going to achieve it.

I think the problem we all face is that we're terrified of rejection. I know I am. It doesn't matter what the task is - whether it's writing my dissertation, asking a girl on a date, applying for a job or... anything that requires me to act... I'm paralysed by the thought that I won't be adequate. And then I end up never even trying. And then I end up failing anyway.

So, over the weekend, I'm going to take a few shots (no, not of vodka! Although maybe some of them too) and maybe I'll come up short on every single one. But I'll get a damn sight closer than if I never bother.

And I urge you to do the same.

Who knows... maybe the keeper will be having an off day!

Enjoy your weekend
xxx