Are you Offensive?
(Are You Offensive?)
Last year I was pondering on how bad I am at the game of chess. People always remarked how hard it was to beat me but in the end they always won regardless of how well I fought. It finally dawned on me that I spent all my time and energy on being defensive and little or no time on being offensive and actually winning. A huge “AHA” moment was on the verge of appearing.
Did this have greater implications in my life? Was I running my life like I play chess? Was I making sure that nothing bad happened to me and my family but not going for my dreams? Was I spending all of my time defending what I had instead of going for the score?
If you have ever watched a football game and seen the defense score a touchdown, you probably watched a huge celebration in the end zone. See, the defense doesn’t usually score. That’s not their job. If they just stop anything bad from happening, they’ve done their job. BUT that’s not all there is to winning. In order to win, you have to score. You have to put yourself out there and take a chance on getting tackled or maybe screwing up and fumbling. In other words, in order to win you have to go for it and risk failure, risk being criticized, risk being mocked, risk… well, everything.
Ask yourself, “Am I defending what I have or am I going for what I really want?” You can spend your entire life on the defense and just maybe you might get lucky and score OR you can get offensive. You can say “To hell with fear and the voices inside and outside my head that say I can’t make it, I’d be a fool to try! I’m on the offense now! I am going for the score!”
Whether it’s chess or football or life, you should play to win. No one will remember how well you defended what you had but generations will remember that you were brave enough to go for the win.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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