The motivational quote I mocked for 2 years turned out to be right

I used to roll my eyes at that 'you miss 100% of the shots you don't take' line from Wayne Gretzky, thought it was just sports cliche noise. Then last month I chickened out on pitching a client in Denver, watched a cheaper competitor win the contract, and realized the quote was literally my problem. Has anyone else had a quote they hated, then life proved it straight to their face?

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cameron3182mo ago

Six months ago I watched my buddy Ron pass up a job offer in Portland because he wanted to wait for the “perfect” one, and now he’s still sitting in the same cubicle he hates while the guy who took that job is already running his own team. That Gretzky line gets treated like some law of physics, but it ignores all the bad shots people take all the time, the ones that cost you money, confidence, and clean exits. I took a shot last year on a big retail account, got it, and then spent nine months buried in their impossible demands, losing money on every hour I put in. Taking the shot is not automatically better than staying put, sometimes the smartest move is knowing when not to swing at all. You lost one client in Denver, that sucks, but acting like the only lesson is “always go for it” is just trading one cliche for another, maybe your gut was telling you that pitch was a bad fit for a reason.

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