Katie McManus talks to her 13-year-old self about the time she quit basketball because she was afraid of failing. She uses that story to argue that business owners with ADHD need to embrace failure as the cost of success.
13 year old me has a business lesson for you.
Are you ready for it?
And hi. I help ADHD business owners make more money in less time with fewer distractions. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist, Money mindset coach. Now, this story is about the sports ball. And I swear that it has a point, so stick with me. In seventh grade I played recreational basketball and I never missed a shot. I mean, I literally got the ball in the hoop every single time I went for it.
My team won every single game that year.
And do you know how many points.
I personally contributed to our victories?
Take a guess. If you guessed two points, you got it right. I scored two points all season.
All year I was terrified to shoot.
And miss, so I just didn't.
Now I would get the ball and I would immediately pass it to another team member because I was so afraid.
That if I got the ball and I shot and I missed, it would be embarrassing and people would blame me and my friends would see how bad I was. So I treated the game like a big game of hot potato. Now, at halftime of our final game of the season, we had won every single game up until this point and this game was no different. It was at halftime, but it was obvious we were going to win. My team had a little come to Jesus talk with me.
They told me that the next time I got the ball, I was not allowed to pass it to them and if I tried, they would not catch it, which means that the other team would get the ball.
And sure enough, I got the ball and I looked around and all the girls on my team just gave me a little shake and put their hands down. They weren't taking the ball from me. Now because this is rec league and there are only like five teams, this.
Other team was very used to me.
Not shooting, so they weren't even even guarding me at this point. So when I shot that ball at the hoop, everyone was surprised and I was shocked that it actually went through. So that's how I contributed my two points to our overall victory and had.
A zero fail rate.
But here's the thing. Despite having a zero fail rate, I don't brag about being good at basketball because I'm not. I was so afraid of people seeing me try and fail that I never tried to be better. Which means that I ultimately guaranteed that I would stay stay bad the whole time.
And I bet you're doing the same in your business right now.
And let my 13 year old self tell you it's only going to hold you back.
It could be that you're afraid to post on social media, or that you're terrified to host your very first webinar.
I don't care what it is.
There's something that you are terrified of.
Doing that is going to make a.
Massive difference if you actually get up the courage to do it.
Also, stop that.
Stop being such a weenie and go and take your shot. And take it again, and take it again and take it again until you are so good that you look back and you barely recognize the you that's too afraid to try right now.
