I’m not much of a basketball fan, college or professional, and for that matter I rarely peruse the sports section of my local newspaper. But one day last week, I came across an article about Steph Curry, the phenomenal point guard for the Golden State Warriors. After reading it, I decided to tune in to a Warrior game.

basketballI watched Curry carefully as he navigated up and down the basketball court. Mostly I noticed his shooting process: Set up quickly and decisively, eye the rim and launch the ball to the basket. So don’t all good NBA shooters do the same thing? Yes, but none of the others I observed in this game were Curry-like. He seemed to trust his instincts so confidently he gave little thought to his shooting. He set up, and within a second or two, the ball was out of his hands. At one point, he missed 5 shots in succession, and without even a hint of dejection or frustration, he just kept coming and kept shooting. The game went to overtime and he made six, 3-point shots in a row to win the game for Golden State. He was fearless, didn’t assign the 5 misses to outside forces and the basketball gods awarded him for that.

I’ve found that the key to astounding success is to be fearless. I don’t mean reckless, irresponsible or misguided. I mean fearless, because there is nothing to fear in our professions and businesses. Curry did one thing: He kept trying… and trying… and trying to succeed.

 

We’re never poorer or worse off for trying, and failure is seldom fatal.