Tag: action

 

Recently I came across an email titled “You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don’t Take”.

Initially, I thought of deleting the mail, but on realizing it is from the Mission Daily, I firmly decided to open and read. The article as with any article from the Mission was truly inspiring (brief). It taught me about the need to evaluate opportunities before deciding which one to let go or which one to take. The interesting part was as I was reading, aha moment struck – I thought of writing about the hypothetical incident below.

Suppose two supporters of soccer team argue and counter-argue about how good their teams are. Eventually the arguments become so heated with the possibility of deteriorating into insults. Then one wise and neutral person makes a suggestion to the two supporters. He said;

Let’s settle this debate through spot kicks into an empty goal. Each of you (two supporters) must take 5 spot kicks from 20 meters into an empty goal post. The one who scores most wins the debate.

The two supporters immediately agreed.

For some unknown reason, at the time when the two were supposed to take the spot kicks, Supporter A decided against taking part. Supporter B insisted he will take his spot kicks as he wants to settle the argument which he believed he had already won given the reasons he advanced as they were debate. The wise Umpire put the ball to the spot, invited supporter A to take the kick, he refused. Next, the umpire called Supporter B to take the spot kick; he went took the kick and scored.

Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash

By the time the spot kicks were concluded, it was;

Supporter A: 0 – Supporter B: 3

Supporter B won the spot kick contest and the debate.

What does this hypothetical story teach us?

I believe the hypothetical story contest does three things (may be more);

1. It confirms the title of the Mission post, “You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don’t Take”. Supporter A missed 100% of the shots he didn’t take. Supporter B took all the 5 spot kicks and scored 3, which translates into 60%, so he missed 40% of the shots he took.
2. In life, if we don’t take action, we will achieve nothing. If we begin nothing, we reap nothing. We have to make firm decisions, and from those act decisively (take the shots). Supporter A at first agreed, and then decided against his decision and took no shots. Thus he lost the contest.
3. The hypothetical story teaches us that not all the shots we take will be successful. The shots that don’t go through are the things we begin and for some reason don’t bear fruits. In the movie, The Martian, Matt Damon (playing the role of marooned astronaut at planet Mars), tells trainee-astronauts that space doesn’t always cooperate – true. But life here on earth doesn’t always cooperate too- there are obstacles here.

Napoleon Hill, the eminent man of success, had this to say;

“The man of decision cannot be stopped! The man of indecision cannot be started! Take your own choice”.

Supporter B could not be stopped to take the shots whereas Supporter A could not start or be started by the umpire.

I hope you found the post insightful. Please leave a comment below.