Congratulations! You win a new car! If those are words that you never thought you’d hear uttered stay tuned, first I’ll start at the beginning of the story.
My generous friend invited me to a Vancouver Canucks NHL game. I’m a fan of sports and hadn’t been to a hockey game in a while so I welcomed the invitation and took her up on her offer. As I arrived at the location, a band was performing an impressive rendition of one of my favourite songs Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
I couldn’t help but dance by the outdoor stage while I waited for my friends to arrive. (I’ve never been one to shy away from a chance to dance).
Then I had the opportunity to meet Canucks Alumni and Assistant Director of Canucks Player Personnel, Dave Babych.
There were several other unique occurrences during this game.
Recently we lost former Canuck player Gino Odjick, beloved by many. To pay tribute to him, a pre-game ceremony was held in his honor, and a moment of silence was observed.
In the first period Tampa Bay Lightning player, Steven Stamkos scored his 500th career NHL goal, which is quite a feat, and later in the game a hat trick. Although the Canucks lost the game 5-2, an interesting event occurred during the game that is rarely seen. A Canucks fan named ‘John’ drove away in a brand new Toyota Camry. Now you’re asking yourself how did that happen?
Imagine this, John lines up for his first of three attempts and sends the puck gliding towards, what looks like, a 4-inch hole at the bottom of the net, he shoots wide. The next attempt on the other side is much closer, he misses by mere inches. With little hesitation, on his third attempt, John lines up, and gently lets the puck go. As we watch it glide toward the net it’s evident that it’s going to hit its mark, and it does! John throws his arms up in the air astonished at what he’s accomplished and the arena erupts with cheers. Nobody can believe it, he’s won a car!
What struck me at that moment is the adjustments that John made along the short, and successful journey to his win. He set his eyes on a goal he made his attempts, adjusting along the way, and it worked, he did what he set out to do. Simplified, it’s the same way you make course corrections for many things we do in life and business. We may try something one way that doesn’t quite work, so we make adjustments and try again. This often takes more than three attempts, but we can reach our goal, and WIN!
You’ve heard it said that nothing worth accomplishing is easy, and it is usually true. When we work hard, learn from our mistakes, and make corrections along the way most things can be accomplished. I don’t know the odds of John making that shot, but he did it. We may sometimes think our goals are impossible but if John can do it so can you.
Keep this in mind, establish your goal, make adjustments as necessary and when everything aligns, aim for the net, and remember to celebrate your successes.
