How many times would you take being fired from your job before you decided to change careers? Last March, I was able to hear this man speak for the first time, as he stepped to the stage, holding footballs and kicking them into the crowd. Not being a big sports fan, the footballs did not impress me.
But then he walked around the room with footballs in his hand and started to toss them to members of the audience. With each toss, the person who received the ball was asked one of two questions: “What is your greatest success?” or “What is your greatest failure?”
This had my attention when Nick Lowery started talking about how we learn from our failures and improve to get another chance. You see, Nick had a record of being cut the most times from professional football teams. I think the number was 18.
What I learned from hearing Nick was that hope is not a strategy. You see, each time failure happens, that means you need to try again and improve so you are better the next time.
Nick is still the most accurate kicker in NFL history; he is the in Hall of Fame as a Kansas City Chief. This week as the news was everywhere about the Jovan Belcher tragedy, Nick had posts of his prayers and heartache in this time in Chiefs history. Nick still has a heart for his team, and it shows.
In this week about motivation and inspiration I am glad to list Nick as one of the great speakers that I was able to hear this year. I want to leave you with a challenge today: what is your greatest failure? How are you using that failure or that tough time in your life to improve, to get better?
Use your challenges, use your downfalls as a place to go home, practice more and come back again. Come back tomorrow to see our youngest person who is on stage in this week’s list of inspirational speakers.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Are you ready to make the changes to become the RockStar in your world?
