Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fall down. Get Up. Repeat.

Fall down. Get Up. Repeat.

Fall down. Get Up. Repeat.

I’m at Eric’s hockey game looking at a poster hanging on the wall. It’s a photo of a little boy, about six years old, wearing a hockey jersey, helmet and skates.

He has a hockey stick in his hand and a smile on his face. The boy is picking himself up after a fall on the ice.

The caption says “Fall Down. Get Up. Repeat.” It’s one of my favorite posters.

Eric (age 7) is almost ready to go onto the ice for his game. I hold out my fist and he knocks his knuckles against mine.

“Skate fast.” I say. "And fall down."

Eric smiles. “I will.”

A mom standing next to me overhears and gives a puzzled look. I know she is thinking “What kind of Mom tells her kid to fall down?”

This kind. I know something she doesn’t know. Falling down is one of the most important things to learn when you are playing hockey.

Mark Messier fell down. Mario Lemieux fell down. Even Wayne Gretsky fell down. And he's the great one.

Good players don’t mind falling down. It’s part of the game.

Just like in the poster.

Kids know this. Kids are not afraid to fall down.

Beth (age 2) knows about falling down. A few days ago we were playing at the playground. Beth was sitting on the big kid swings.

“Push me higher Mom!” she ordered. I pushed. Beth shrieked with glee.

While Beth was giggling, Emily (age 4) came over to join us. As I helped Emily onto one swing, Beth plummeted off the other. She landed face first in the playground mulch and burst into tears.

I ran to her, scooped her in my arms and held her close. Less than a minute passed before she looked at me. “I’m OK.” She said.

I wiped her face with my sleeve and put her back on her feet. She climbed onto the swing.

Fall down. Get up. Repeat.

Falling down isn't just for hockey and playgrounds. And it’s not just for kids.

Grownups need to fall down too. But for some reason, as we grow up, we stop allowing ourselves to fall. We develop fear.

We talk ourselves out of trying something new. We talk ourselves out of pushing harder. We talk ourselves out of taking chances. All because we want to succeed but we are afraid to fail.

But contrary to what most people think, success doesn’t come from success. Success comes from failure.

Success comes from falling down, picking yourself up, and trying again.

And trying again.

And trying again.

It’s true for athletes. It’s true for engineers. It’s true for actors. It’s true for actuaries.

To be successful, you need to risk failure. You need to accept failure when it happens. You need to learn from failure. You need to press on.

Fall down.

Get Up.

Repeat.

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