Even if you’re not a football fan, you’ve probably heard of Tim Tebow. He has been a polarizing figure for some reason. People seem to love him or hate him. I don’t really understand why. You’d think he was a politician. Perhaps because he was never shy about his faith and he prayed publicly. But he was never goofy about it. Kneeling on the sideline of football field to pray just before you go get your brain knocked around isn’t the craziest thing to do, is it?
Tebow is a former Heisman winner (the award for top college football player) and played quarterback in the NFL and by all accounts was a great guy; a good teammate and someone who was caring and generous.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Tim Tebow but only because he quarterbacked the Florida Gators in college, a rival team to my favorite Alabama Crimson Tide, and worse than that, in Denver he threw the winning touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in overtime against my Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2012 NFL Wild Card game. Just thinking about that is getting my heart rate up.
Since then, he’s been pretty quiet as his NFL career stalled out. Recently though, he announced that he was going to give baseball a shot. So in August of this year, in front of media and scouts from 28 major league baseball clubs Tim Tebow worked out and tried to display his baseball skills…a game he hadn’t played competitively since high school over 10 years earlier.
The reviews were mixed and some say he failed. He failed to impress the scouts and failed to demonstrate that he could play at a big league level.
I wonder how many people took Tim aside before this day and said something like, “Tim, why are you doing this? You’re almost 30 years old, maybe you shouldn’t bother. You’re going to embarrass yourself. You’ll look foolish.”
I’m guessing there were some. And if they didn’t say it to him directly they were probably thinking it.
But when asked after the tryout, why he went ahead with it, knowing that it was a longshot to have any success at all, this is what Tim said…
“I’d rather fail, than regret not trying.”
I’d rather fail than regret not trying. I don’t know about you but maybe he’s on to something.
A while ago, someone asked how our business was going. Kathy and I opened a cafe in 2015 and this person was inquiring. I told him that it was going well, even beyond our expectations. His response was “Really?” He looked surprised.
Hey, the stats don’t lie. Most small businesses do fail. And we’re only in year two, so maybe he’ll be right some day, I don’t know.
I’ve failed before. I failed a course in school…heck, I even failed the 10th grade! It turns out, you have to go to class if you hope to pass the course.
None of us wants to fail. Whether we are trying out for the team, pitching a new project at work, starting a new relationship, or a new business.
We’ll do almost anything not to fail. But what if failing isn’t the worse case scenario? What if failure is not the thing we should be most concerned about?
Maybe there is something way worse than failing…Not trying at all.
Often times, the very thing we’re afraid of, is what we should pursue.
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield
Failure leads to new opportunities.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
Failure is the inevitable part of successfully reaching our goals.
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C.S. Lewis
Failure is not the end of something.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
Will Tim Tebow play professional baseball? Most say no. Time will tell. But does playing matter more than trying? He would rather live with trying and failing than not trying at all.
“I’d rather fail, than regret not trying.”
What are you avoiding to do in your life because of fear? The fear that you may fail?
If you knew you could not fail, what would you do that you’re not doing now?
How does a different perspective on failure make trying something possible?
Feeling stuck? Not sure what to do next? Life coaching can help. Contact me to arrange a free 30-minute discovery call. Lets talk.
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