Lewis Howes recalls a youth sports season where he didn't score, and how his father's unconditional love gave him the security to fail and keep practicing. That acceptance, he says, was the greatest gift a parent can give a child.
I don't score one point the entire summer. How old were you? 10, 11. You're playing against other 10, 11 year olds, you need to score once, not one. Were you in the game? I was in a game. How'd you not score? Because I was terrible. I remember crying about it, being upset about it, and my father just gave me a hug and said, listen, whether you score zero or score 60, I'm going to love you no matter what. Wow. That is the most important thing that you can say to a child. Because from there I was like, okay, it gives me all the confidence in the world to fail. I have the security there, but to hell with that, I'm scoring 60, let's go. Right, right, right. And from there I just went to work. I just stayed with it. I kept practicing, kept practicing, kept practicing.
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