"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career.
I've lost almost 300 games
26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot ... and missed.
I've failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."
~ Michael Jordan

While there can be days when the fine art of seeking new business results in multiple “no’s,” feelings of rejection and a sense of failure, take heart.  These opportunities to excel can help shape our future success.  Much has been written on the subject of achieving success, winning as an achievement in itself.  As far as learning opportunities go, it is in our failures that the best learning is achieved. 

The pain of rejection can easily take over our mental focus, shape how we view ourselves as business leaders and perhaps reinforce within ourselves that we can’t do something or we may not be as good at this as we thought.

Albert Finney, as Uncle Henry Skinner in the film A Good Year, “You'll come to see that a man learns nothing from winning. The act of losing, however, can elicit great wisdom.”

What are we learning from our missed shots?  Despite the continual indicators that money is tight and markets appear to be difficult, success is available.  

I don’t know where I got this from, but one of the universal truths that I frequently witness with my clients is, “What we measure, we pay attention to.  What we pay attention to, will get better.  What gets better, will achieve results.”  Has this ever happened to you?  Persistence and focus brings results.

As Michael Jordan’s quote above indicates, it is likely that he used his missed shots and lost games as opportunities to find the lesson contained within the failure that would be the key to his future success. His personal leadership us what carried him through adversity.

How many valuable lessons are you taking from your ‘missed shots’ that will set you up for future success as a business leader?