Quote of the Week
“I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. 26 times I was trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
— Michael Jordan
About Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player in history. Over his career with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, he won six NBA Championships, five MVP awards, and fourteen All-Star selections. He transformed basketball into a global sport and became one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet.
But what made Jordan exceptional wasn’t just his talent, it was his obsessive relationship with failure. He treated every missed shot, every loss, every setback as data. As fuel. He didn’t avoid pressure; he sought it. And when he missed the biggest shots, he came back and took the next one.
Why This Quote Matters
This quote works because of its honesty. Jordan doesn’t present a sanitised version of greatness. He counts the misses. Nine thousand shots. Twenty-six game-winners that didn’t go in. A career full of failure that most people never see behind the highlight reels.
The lesson isn’t that failure doesn’t matter. It’s that failure is the mechanism through which excellence is built. Every miss made him sharper. Every loss made him hungrier. The willingness to keep taking the shot knowing it might not go in is what separated him from players who were equally talented but less resilient.
For young people facing academic pressure, competitive sport, or any pursuit where the outcome is uncertain, Jordan’s words are a direct reminder: you don’t succeed despite failure. You succeed because of what you do with it.
Share this quote with someone who’s afraid to fail.
