Shoresy and Self-Confidence

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life.  A lot.  But, I have only one regret: I regret not believing in myself more. 

I’m not saying I would be a rock star.  I never even wanted to be a rock star, I just wanted to make a living in music.  If I would have believed in myself more, I would have found a way to do that.  By the time I got offers to go on tour with folks as a guitar player, I didn’t want to leave home.  I could’ve done that at a younger age when I wasn’t leaving anyone at home.  I could have spent more time learning to record in my teen years rather than waiting until I was forty. 

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

It’s hard pursuing something that most people wish they could do, but yet when people see success in that field, they only see the part of the iceberg that sticks out of the water.  The people around you only see the distance between themselves and Taylor Swift.  They’re okay with you playing the local bar every Friday night, they will tell their friends how good your band is, but the moment you try to step out of that into something bigger, they turn cold.  As they say in the South, “don’t get too big for your britches.”

The irony is, no one will doubt my success like I will.  They’re just giving you a swift kick to the family jewels when you’re already on your knees.  Gotta make sure you stay down. 

It’s scary, because if you want to gain something, you have to be willing to lose something else.  And people don’t like to lose.  Including me.

In fact, I’m the kind of guy Shoresy would want on his team, because I hate losing.

You have to have, or create, the scenario that Shoresy does with the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs.  You have to go all or nothing.  The team will never lose again, or the team will fold. 

No Plan B.

No soft place to land.

You have to say, “I can’t lose.  I can’t afford to.”

You have to give it everything you have, and the part that will take you over the finish line is that part of you you give after you think you have nothing left in the tank to give.  It’s that last push.  It’s making that set-up pass to your teammate even though you know you’re about to get drilled by a 6’5”, 240 lb Russian dude skating at you at 25 mph.  No flinching, no protecting yourself, you must suffer to reach the end result you’re looking for. 

To give you one last note related to hockey.  Wayne Gretzky tells this story about the last time they lost to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final.  They had to walk by the Islanders’ locker room after they left their locker room after the last game.  Yeah, the Islanders had celebrated, but they were all sitting there, still in their gear, covered in ice packs.  They had given everything they had; mind, soul and body.  They had nothing left.  Gretzky knew the Oilers were going to have to give more the next year if they wanted to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.

And they did.

I wrote this for myself, but I hope you’ll take some encouragement from it too.