There’s a quote from Wayne Gretzy that goes “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I realize this sounds like common sense and in sports it is very obvious. When I’m at hockey our coach often reminds us to just keep shooting. Sometimes we get caught up in carrying the puck too long or trying to make some fancy passes and we don’t get any shots on net.

In life and business, this shows up as analysis paralysis. Trying new things or moving in a new direction can be very scary so we often spend a lot of time doing research, asking questions, planning, reviewing, etc. We do everything BUT take action! If you want to achieve any success in life you’ll have to learn to start taking those shots. Shoot to score my friends!

But what if you don’t score? So what, at least you tried and with continued efforts you’ll eventually get there. All you have to do is “go in for the cuddle.”

One of my amazing teammates, Hurricane Patte coined the phrase “go in for the cuddle”. Sometimes you take a shot and it doesn’t go in. So what?!? Keep moving forward, be ready for the rebound and take another shot. This applies not only to the person taking the shot but also the supporting players. There’s a good chance that you’ll be able to get the rebound and have another shot at it.

In life and business fear often keeps us from taking a shot at something, or we fall short, are faced with failure and back away from our goals. Something doesn’t go as planned the first time around so instead of going in for the cuddle we back away, lose momentum and often lose out on great opportunities.

Take a tip from my good friend Hurricane Patte and learn to go in for the cuddle!