Johnny’s guarantee

I read Johnny Wilkinson’s book (tackling life) years ago and there was a particular passage that still resonates with me to this day.

Bear with me now, while I write this from memory.

So Johnny was well known for being obsessive about his kicking practice. He was so committed and put in so much time that he set new standards for kicking practice in Rugby.

Now in the last minute of one particular match, Johnny had a kick to win the game. If he missed it his team would lose and if he got it his team would win.

So Johnny prepared himself to take the kick feeling overly confident of scoring because of that practice he had done during the week. This was a sure thing in his head.

But he missed. And he was stunned.

He walked around the pitch shell shocked.

‘But I had done so much practice?’ He thought to himself.

That was the day he realized that practice was not a guarantee of success but merely a better opportunity for success.

To think of it as a guarantee is to remove a fundamental element of the experience: the fear. The possibility of failure to sharpen one’s concentration.

There is no guarantee in outcomes.