One weekend I skied the entire time without falling down! This was my first time skiing without failing (falling down) and I wanted to tell the world. Everyone I told was excited for me, except one person…Coach M!
His reaction shocked me! He was in my face and spit was flying, his eyes and left temple vein were bulging as he yelled:
Mr. Carcarey, if you ever play for me the way you skied this past weekend I will cut you. You quit on yourself and that’s why you did not fall! I would rather you try and fail than play it safe and ski within your abilities!
I was 17 years old and didn’t understand. I thought Coach was off his meds. How could the school district allow someone that old to teach kids? He was almost 40! But Coach was right, I quit on myself and allowed the mountain to beat me. There’s a huge difference between quitting and failing.
Quitting is easy, anyone can do it, and it takes no effort! Just stop after you fail or make a mistake. Start making excuses and rationalizing about why you quit. Then spend the rest of your life giving friends and family a guided tour of the mountain that you allowed to beat you!
Failing takes effort and emotional fortitude! Coach M taught me to keep making mistakes, learning after each one, and trying again. I now see Failure as Beautiful! It inspires me to continue and I highly respect those that keep getting up when it’s so much easier to stay down!
Failure is the price of Success. We cannot succeed without failure and the more successful we want to become the more failures we have to overcome!
To be Average at something = fail & learn occasionally.
To be Great at something = fail & learn A LOT.
To be World Class at something = fail & learn constantly!
Find your Passion and you will find your life!