All You Have to Do Is Try One More Time

THOMAS EDISON ONCE SAID, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always trying just one more time.”

It is completely in our control. All we have to do is try one more time. If that doesn’t work, then try one more time. You create your own new beginning.

We often see failure as final, devastating, humiliating and sometimes even a fatal blow to our dreams. Succumbing to this point of view, or dare I say, belief, is an outward demonstration of weakness. Imagine the NBA without

Michael Jordan. Well there would have not been a Michael Jordan if he had believed that failure was devastating and final. In his own words, MJ said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games.

Twenty-six times I’ve been asked to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

We see the awards, the recognition and notoriety of successful people like Michael Jordan but don’t realize that for every accomplishment recognized, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of instances of failure.

It is the fear of failure that keeps most people from even trying to accomplish or be successful. Wayne Gretzky, the NHL player nicknamed “The Great One” and considered by many to be the greatest professional hockey player of all time, said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” The fear of missing a shot robs us of the success we can have.

What makes this so important is that success in whatever we pursue is not something that might happen, but with understanding that all we have to do is not give up, we can make success a certainty.

So, what holds us back? This little word “fear”.

Fear of some things is good. It protects us. We don’t text and drive for fear of accidents. We don’t put ourselves in harmful circumstances. I live in southeast Texas. When the national hurricane center warns of an impending storm, many who live along the coast evacuate for higher ground due to fear of a dangerous storm. These are all rational fears.

Then there is emotional fear. Fear of speaking in front of a crowd or fear of being rejected when asking the Homecoming Queen on a date. These are less rational and more emotional.

The fear of failure is an emotional fear. We are afraid that we will be embarrassed if we say we are going to do something and are not successful. We are afraid of what others might think and we’ll suffer a loss of self-esteem. Our insecurities take prominence in our imagined world.

Fear of failure is the behavioral reaction we have when we fill our minds with all of the bad things that will happen if we simply try. It’s paralyzing. We think, nothing ventured nothing lost. When in reality, nothing ventured is nothing gained.

This mindset is deceiving and limits our own potential. We live our lives defensively while others, who take risks, enjoy achievement and success. Sure, some fail, but failure is only a reality when one gives up and quits trying. Barry Bonds, the MLB player with the record for home runs at 762, struck out 1,539 times, more than twice his number of home runs. Bonds knew that each time at the plate was a new beginning and the only way to fail is to stop trying.