Don’t Be Afraid To Take The Shot

I was recently listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast and an incredible piece of insight jumped out at me.

He was talking with Terry Crews — ex-NFL player and actor that you most certainly would recognize if you saw him in person (mainly because his traps are bigger than Evander Holyfield’s were).

Anyways, I highly recommend the podcast (in general), and the interview with Terry (in specific).

What jumped out at me was a story Terry told about his days playing middle school basketball.

There was a game that he talks about where his team was down by 1 with just a few seconds left.

Terry ended up getting a huge steal, dribbling the ball all the way down the court, and putting up a lay-up to end the game.

And end the game he did.

Just not he had hoped.

Terry ended up missing the easy lay-up and the surefire victory for his team.

He was devastated.

And worse, his coaches, teammates, and even other classmates who found out about the incident were relentless in giving him a “hard time” about it.

It was a source of shame for Terry for many years.

He beat himself up endlessly for missing that lay-up.

He said the narrative constantly playing in his head was, “how could you miss that shot?” “How are you ever going to live this down?”

Side note: How many of us beat ourselves up like this on a daily basis?!

This source of shame and embarrassment plagued Terry for many years.

But then one day, he had an epiphany.

He realized that he was the one who had the courage to risk failure by simply taking the shot.

He could have failed, and he did, but he did not shy away from taking the shot simply because of his fear of failure.

He said, “I had my opportunity and I took the shot. I TOOK THE SHOT.”

This soon became a source or great pride for him.

He easily could have passed the ball to somebody else and given them the responsibility for either a victory or failure, but he didn’t….

He was willing to stake his reputation on that shot, win or lose.

So many people don’t take their shot in life because they “might” fail.

They might get laughed at.

They might fall flat on their face and have to listen to friends, family, and even strangers telling them “I told you so”.

But what Terry realized is that failures and outcomes don’t matter, and that’s why you should never fear failure.

When push-comes-to-shove, you have to be willing to place a bet on yourself (especially in high-pressure situations).

Whether you sink the shot or not, it really doesn’t matter.

Every time you take a “shot” in life, you win.

You are not going to make every shot, but it’s far better to take a shot and miss, than it is to get caught on the sidelines of life.

I think this a great lesson for life.

Whether the game is on the line, or not, we need to practice the habit of taking a shot at something.

We need to take that shot without any fear of missing it.

We need to trust our own abilities and know, the even if we don’t make the shot, it’s better to have at least taken it, like Terry did.