“You miss 100% of shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

I don’t like this quote.  I realize that it is trying to teach us there are lost opportunities from not taking shots.  It is just that I don’t see missing a shot and abstaining as the same thing.  I find individuals often won’t take a shot because they want to avoid the possibility of witnessing their incapability.  Rather, people might be content abstaining and thereby leaving the outcome in the dark.  That way, they can at least tell themselves they might have succeeded if they took a shot.  In other words, I don’t like this quote because people feel a lesser pang from abstaining than from shooting and missing.  

I would be more satisfied if the quote was slightly altered to:  “you can’t make any shots if you don’t take them.”  I feel it is more agreeable on all accounts and is in a greater tie with people’s perceptions of reality; just as you won’t see yourself miss, you won’t get to see yourself succeed either.  The question now becomes how do we prevent people from losing out on opportunities?

What if I try and fail?  One answer I think that often comes up is the feeling of embarrassment.  I think the significance of embarrassment is underestimated.  “There are two things [most] people are afraid of:  death and embarrassment.  Only fools try to overcome death.  But it takes real guts to conquer embarrassment” (Gintama).  I think what can encourage people to take a shot is helping them realize that there might be things more frightening than embarrassment.  The fear of being alone.  The fear of being unable to help people dear to you.  The fear of having zero control over the events that transpire throughout your life.  By putting things into perspective, people might become motivated to reach for their aspirations and to start taking shots.