For eleven years, Tiger Wood’s stock crashed after failing to win a major. Fourteen years ago, was his last master title at Augusta. In November 2017, he sank to number 1,199 in the world rankings. For a player who once held the number one spot in the world for two hundred and eighty-one consecutive weeks at the peak of his career before his personal scandals, it was the NADIR.
His marriage crashed, he suffered a back-health problem, and endured surgery four times, the adversities tested him to the limit and HE WAS OUT OF THE NEWS.
WOOD’S resurgence offers lessons that with determination, focus, persistence and sacrifice, man can face the most daunting odds and still bounce back to the terrace.
All this inspiration would have been lost to history if woods have cowed in because of the downturn he suffered. It is an enduring lesson that we can all rewrite our history.
The thing about second chances is that no one deserves them, but we all receive them—usually more than once.
Many of us have probably experienced this. Have you ever been so afraid of failing at something that you decided not to try it at all? Or has a fear of failure meant that, subconsciously, you undermined your own efforts to avoid the possibility of a larger failure?
Many of us have probably experienced this at one time or another. The fear of failing can be immobilizing – it can cause us to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when we allow fear to stop our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way.
We all have different definitions of failure, simply because we all have different benchmarks, values, and belief systems. A failure to one person might simply be a great learning experience for someone else.
Many of us are afraid of failing, at least some of the time. But fear of failure (also called “atychiphobia”) is when we allow that fear to stop us from doing the things that can move us forward to achieve our goals.
When you experience a reluctance to try new things or get involved in challenging projects, remember Woods played from the rear to reemerge a champion.
When you feel Self-sabotaged – for example, procrastination, excessive anxiety, or a failure to follow through with goals, remember that wood’s setbacks were caused by himself.
It’s almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. Put simply, they’re not really living at all.
But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it’s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.
We can choose to see failure as “the end of the world,” or as proof of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we’re meant to learn. These lessons are very important; they’re how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we let them.
Michael Jordan is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And yet, he was cut from his high school basketball team because his coach didn’t think he had enough skill.
Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest and most successful businessmen, was rejected by Harvard University.
Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin empire, is a high-school dropout.
Most of us will stumble and fall in life. Doors will get slammed in our faces, and we might make some bad decisions.
But imagine if Michael Jordan had given up on his dream to play basketball when he was cut from that team. Imagine if Richard Branson had listened to the people who told him he’d never do anything worthwhile without a high-school diploma.
Think of the opportunities you’ll miss if you let your failures stop you.
Failure can also teach us things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise. For instance, failure can help you discover how strong a person you are. Failing at something can help you discover your truest friends, or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed.
Often, valuable insights come only after a failure. Accepting and learning from those insights is key to succeeding in life.
It’s important to realize that in everything we do, there’s always a chance that we’ll fail. Facing that chance, and embracing it, is not only courageous – it also gives us a fuller, more rewarding life.
Learn to think more positively – Positive thinking is an incredibly powerful way to build self-confidence and neutralize self-sabotage.
Look at the worse-case scenario – In some cases, the worst-case scenario may be genuinely disastrous, and it may be perfectly rational to fear failure. In other cases, however, this worst case may actually not be that bad, and recognizing this can help.
If you have hit your leg on the stone, with a bleeding toe, you limp and you feel like giving up, remember the lyrics of Rodney Atkins song,
“if you are going through hell,
Keep on going, don’t slow down
If you are scared, don’t show it
You might just get out before the devil even knows.”
Also remember, Woods was out of the news and now, he is back in a big way.
Don’t stop!!!!!!
Ayo Ologun is a broadcast journalist, a social commentator and he writes from Osogbo.
