“Seizing the Moment: Finding the Courage to Take Big Shots”
While coaching my son’s 6th grade basketball team, we won a game in the closing seconds of play when our point guard hit a go-ahead, three point shot from just beyond the top of the key. This was one of my favorite memories of the season since it was an exciting moment in front of our home crowd that sent us off the court on an emotional high. As a team, we discussed the game a couple of days later at practice, and I congratulated our point guard for his accomplishment. I told him that what I was most proud of him about wasn’t that he’d made his shot, but that he’d had the courage to take it. Athletes at all levels of play will routinely find themselves in situations like the one he faced, as will everyday people in the non-sporting world. For many of us, we’ll hesitate at the worst possible moment and end up falling short of accomplishing our ultimate goals. Before we can win the game, cross the finish line, or checkmark our list of final objectives, we should remind ourselves not to overlook the most fundamental element to achieving our goals. We spend so much time focusing on our desired outcomes that it’s easy to forget where it all starts from; the singularity from which, one way or another, all forms of success must begin.
Taking the shot.
There’s no set formula for success on any platform, but when the tides of momentum turn your way, you should drop what you’re doing and go with it.
One step forward, one step back. This is how the journey feels on many days. Every once in a while, though, the wheel turns round and we catch a break. Maybe we do something on our own accord. Maybe we get lucky. Perhaps karma or a higher power gets involved, and somewhere in the universe it becomes decided that we were due. My high school coach, Norm Hurd, once told me this about the sport of basketball: it’s a game of runs. Norm’s observation from the basketball court runs parallel to many things in life. Recognizing opportunities can be just as challenging as utilizing them, which is why we should always be open to the possibility that whatever break is coming for us might be different than what we’re expecting. Whenever we suspect an opening—a sliver of daylight through the expanse of cloud cover—we should strive to act first and ask questions later. In other words, don’t hesitate. Take the shot.
The fear of failure: a formidable opponent to accomplishing one’s goals.
There are several varieties of risk a person can choose to gamble with. Time. Finances. Reputation. These are all assets we have at our disposal, and it’s up to us as to how we wager them. With risk comes uncertainty, along with the possibility that by putting ourselves out there, we may fall short of reaching our objectives. If we aren’t careful, we might delay taking our shots by convincing ourselves we aren’t ready; waiting in fear that our timing isn’t right, or, perhaps worse, that it isn’t just right. We should try to remember that most of the shots we take aren’t one-time events. Man of them are arranged like a domino line; one that unfolds off a tipping point and gradually makes its way forward in the direction of something farther ahead. Learning to trust ourselves once we commit to taking our shots is an important part of the journey, as is having the confidence to believe that when surprises come up, we’ll be able to figure out the solutions while we go. Failure is all about perspective, and because there are several degrees of it aside from the total, catastrophic variety, it doesn’t always signify the endgame. On the contrary, failure can be a learning tool, and one of the most powerful weapons we have to assist us in the pursuit of our current and future goals.
Shoot and miss? No problem. Get the rebound!
Second-chance scoring opportunities are just what they sound like. The only problem is that we can’t get them until we take (and miss) our first shot. Consider how often our intentions don’t go as planned, and just when we think all hope is lost, something else falls into our lap that we weren’t expecting. The alternative something we end up with could lead to an opportunity that’s big, small, or somewhere in between. With any luck, it may even turn out to be one of the biggest breaks we’ve ever caught. When the result of our shots isn’t what we wanted, but instead turns out to be exactly what we need, then it’s like striking gold—in an ironic-good-fortune kind of way.
Missing shots is one thing. Not taking them is another.
The silver lining for the shots we miss is that we have the opportunity to learn something from them. As for the ones we don’t take, all they generally leave us with is regret. I find these concepts relatable to a number of experiences in my life, including this road I’m currently traveling on my journey as a writer. When it comes to the subject matter of posts like this one—taking chances, putting oneself out there, and having the confidence to persist towards the completion of goals—my intention isn’t to try to teach an impressive lesson. The truth is I’m using my words to remind myself to keep going with my own writing goals, and to stop stalling when it comes to taking the necessary steps that will help to push my book-writing project forward. I find inspiration in a lot of sources most days, from the people I meet, the testimonials they share with me, the stories I read, and even the limited amount of film and TV I’m able to watch. Music is another medium with a seemingly endless supply of inspirational content, and the one I probably get the most use from. There’s a Nathaniel Rateliff song that comes up on my Spotify from time to time which many of you have probably heard of called Hey Mama. The song is written as a dialogue between Rateliff and his late mother, and there are a few lines in the chorus that always hit home whenever I hear them. I imagine his mother imparting some tough-love advice on him when he tells her that he wants to give up on his ambitions. Unfazed by his declarations, she prompts him to press on, issuing a stark reminder that he still hasn’t given as much to his work as he seems to think he has. Rateliff has a lot of good stuff in many of his songs, and so if lyrics are your thing then I’d encourage you to check him out.
No matter what our goals might be, it’s important to take our shots as they come to us. Learning from the misses and making adjustments is important, but what’s most essential is to have the confidence to continue shooting. Thanks for reading, my friends! Until next time!
- Todd
If you choose to comment, you’ll be directed to a new page where you’ll leave your name and then click “Comment as Guest.”
