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Gretzky seems to have known what he was talking about
Usually anything that comes from the mouth of an athlete is destined for the blooper reel. If not, it’s a composition of umh, and, ah, and, umh, did I mention ah?
I’m sure “the Great One� aka Mr. Wayne Gretzky had similar moments in front of the camera, but this one classic quote from him hit me today.
As simple as that may sound, I think it’s a really powerful quote for entrepreneurs. Much like every young go getter, I’ve got a board full of ideas that are waiting to be brought to life, and I never really thought about them the way this quote makes me think.
We all spend so much time planning our big business idea, worrying about the details and how little capital we have to work with, and finding the right developer to build it for us, and on and on and on…
It seems the business world has always been described as hit or miss. Either your idea will fly off the shelves or plummet into the clearance bin.
Apply Gretzky’s quote to that ideology and you start to see it a different way. Every single idea that’s executed with passion and good intent is a hit. The key word there is “executed�, a shot that has been taken.
The internet and media has brought metrics into the forefront and created a false set of standards that all of us compare our businesses to. If you don’t get a million unique hits or a million sign-ups your website is a failure. Bullshit.
If your website is an idea scribbled on a post-it note, then it’s a failure/missed shot, simply because you didn’t make the attempt to the hit the net.
No matter how small you have to start or how little you have to work with, attempting the shot as soon as possible should be your goal.
As you’ve probably learned, it’s impossible to predict the future and whether or not your shot will hit the net, but at least you’ll see how close you come to hitting it and be able to adjust your approach to turn on that goal light on the next attempt.
March 1st, 2007 at 11:26 am
Is Wayne Gretzky that soccer player guy?
Just kidding :)
Great post - and it’s so true. Donald Trump always says this too - you just have to DO IT and see what happens.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
It all comes back to those who talk about doing and those who do.
If you’ve got an idea just start working on it and see where it leads.
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:06 am
I just wanted to drop my 2 cents into this discussion by saying that I think Wayne (and Travis), are completely correct with this statement. It’s almost too easy to become overwhelmed when starting to develop a big idea, but the quote is bang on. You’ll never know if you could have succeeded if you’ve never gave it your all. My girlfriend often hounds me for what she calls “gay quotes”, but another one I like to remember with things like this is, “Success only comes before Work in the dictionary.” Sure it may be a little ‘gay’, but that doesn’t take away from it’s truth factor…
March 2nd, 2007 at 1:03 am
Hi Travis
Great post! Very true
It makes mee feel better for having taken the risk just today to launch my own business. :)
March 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Grezky shoots! Jesus saves!
March 7th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Wow, Travis I have to say this has been my most favorite post yet. As a child who grew up in Canada and played competitive hockey my whole life, obviously Gretzky was (and still is) my hero in every way. To see his quotes compared to my other passion (web development) couldn’t have made me happier! I believe he also said “Keep your head up, and your stick on the ice” or was that Red Green? Ha! Keep up the great work!
March 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Working in hockey for last 10 years and doing my own business (including online ice hockey services) for last 5 years - and I have never read such a great “goal” blogpost. I am thinking about put in on my company website as a tagline.. :)