19-12
That was the final score of the Japan v. Ireland match last weekend at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Japan won.
There weren’t a lot of people – myself included – who saw that coming. Sure, everyone knew that the *Potential* was there for Japan to win, but it was almost a foregone conclusion that Ireland would come out on top.
But that’s not what Japan was thinking. After reading and listening to numerous interviews, one thread emerged: If they just went out there, and they all did their best, they could beat Ireland.
They didn’t self-reject.
They put themselves out there on the pitch, and they did their best.
This time they won.
I hear about self-rejection a lot. I’ve been guilty of it myself. Not putting something out there, using the vague excuse that I’m not good enough, that the work isn’t good enough – though there’s not a specific “Thing” that I could point to as the “Not good enough” point.
That’s self-rejection, and it’s easier to live with than hearing “No” from someone that you respect and want to work with. Self-rejection doesn’t give anyone the chance to say “No.” While true, it also doesn’t give anyone the chance to say “Yes” either.
You’ll never know until you try. Yes, that’s frightening. You may fall short. You may hear that your work, for whatever reason – or for no reason at all – isn’t for that person.
But it might be.
It might be one of the best things they’ve seen. It might be something that takes off into something that nobody ever expected.
You simply won’t know until you take that step, until you kit up, step out onto the pitch, and do the best you can.
You might surprise the world.
See you on Thursday!
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