If light bulb inventor Thomas Edison had worried about failure, we wouldn’t have light bulbs now. He is said to have ‘failed’ 10,000 times – imagine that! But his attitude was the reason he ultimately succeeded – he said “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
It’s exactly the same with skating. Edison was incredibly good at what he did, but it took hard work and many trials before he found HIS way and succeeded in achieving his goal. He DID NOT FEAR FAILURE. He did not worry about what people might think of him if he didn’t do well. He focused on what it would mean for him, and for others, WHEN he succeeded. And so he did.
As a toddler you will have fallen down many times as you learned to walk. Now you walk without even thinking about it. If you trip occasionally, you don’t start thinking – “That’s it! I can’t do this anymore!” You pick yourself up and carry on.
Making mistakes teaches our brain to analyse and adjust and encourages us to go out and try it again and again until we get it right. If you had given up at the first hurdle with walking, you would still be being pushed around by your mum in a pram!
So pick yourself up mentally and physically. And when you go out onto that ice, remember all the reasons why you skate – because you love it, can’t live without it and it gives you that special feeling nothing else can replace. Do your programme because you love it, and show the world why YOU are meant to be there.
