Failure Is Not an Option

Growing up, my family frequently traveled to Coronado, California, a small island off San Diego. Coronado is a both a tourist and military town; it's home to a Navy base and serves as one of the Navy SEAL's training facilities. During a trip before my freshman year of high school, I purchased a Navy SEALs shirt that read, “Failure is not an option.” I adopted this motto and developed a perfectionist mentality. As a result, for several years, I feared failure. I avoided taking difficult classes, I refused to ask out certain girls, and overall, did not challenge myself for fear that I wouldn't succeed.

 

During a lecture my senior year of college, my professor advised that failure is okay because it provides an opportunity to learn: “Let your failures refine you, not define you.” I suddenly realized that I had been misinterpreting this slogan to mean that I should avoid failure at all costs. Rather, it meant that I shouldn’t give up when something doesn’t go according to plan.

 

This message has stuck with me for a long time, most recently in the aftermath of Kobe's death when I rewatched Kobe Bryant's Muse, a documentary that Kobe helped produce during the comeback from his Achilles injury. In an interview towards the end of the documentary, Kobe explains, "My brain, it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself, ‘You’re a failure,’ I think that is worse, that is almost worse than death.”

Kobe exemplified this mentality several times during his career, but there's one particular instance that I recalled today. During his rookie season (1996-1997), the Lakers faced off against the heavily favored Utah Jazz in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Utah hosted Game 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, and with 5 seconds remaining in regulation, 18 year old Kobe Bryant found himself with the ball in his hands. The game was tied 89-89. Kobe drove to the right elbow, pump faked his shot, and threw up a fadeaway jumper as the clock struck zero...Air ball. In overtime, Kobe air balled another 3 shots. Pure misery. The Lakers ended up losing the game and the series that evening.

Fortunately, 19 years after his infamous rookie moment, his career turned out just fine. 5X NBA Champion, 2X Finals MVP, 1X NBA MVP, 18X All-Star, 2X Gold Medal Winner. Failure was not an option for Kobe Bryant.

 

This afternoon, Dallas Mavericks second year sensation Luka Dončić found himself in a very similar situation. Over the course of Game 4 of their Playoff series against the heavily favored LA Clippers, Luka air balled multiple step-back three point shots. As the Mavericks rallied from 21 points down, Luka refused let the air balls get to his head. With 3.7 seconds remaining, the Mavericks trailed 132-134. As Dorian Finney Smith inbounded the ball, I begged, "Please, Luka, do not take a step back three pointer." Admittedly, I feared failure for Luka. Luckily, Luka couldn't hear me through the TV. With 1.5 seconds on the clock, Luka stepped back and hoisted up a deep three pointer...Bang. Luka drilled it as time expired and the buzzer sounded. Mavs win 135-134. For Luka, failure was not an option.

 

I'm not one for coincidence, but did I mention that today would have been Kobe's forty second birthday? Happy 42, Mamba. The MFFLs thank you for #LukaMagic.

And with that, I'll leave y'all with this jam...