Sports & Gaming

You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take

Lesson time 08:04 min

In his second year in the NHL, Wayne acted on the advice of his dad and coaches, who spent years encouraging him to shoot more. He scored 50 goals in the first 39 games—an NHL record that most experts agree will likely never be broken.

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Topics include: Don’t Be Afraid to Take Your Shots

Wayne Gretzky

Teaches the Athlete’s Mindset

NHL star Wayne Gretzky shares his journey and his approach to a winning mindset, from tapping into your true passion to committing to success every day.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The quote is unique in that Glen Sather and John Muckler, the coaches in Edmonton, my father, Walter, some of my teammates-- the one thing that they would continuously tell me, you should shoot more. You got to shoot more. You should get more selfish. You should shoot more. And I always felt like it doesn't matter who scores as long as the team scores. Because if the team scores, and you're scoring, you're winning. And so I used to get frustrated when people would say, he should shoot more. Wayne should shoot more. You got to take more shots. And finally, I got to a point-- it was about 1990. And I'd heard it over and over and over and over, I guess, since I was about 12. And I finally just-- it just rolled out of my mouth. It came off out of my mouth. I don't even know how I thought of it. I just said, I know. I know. 100% of the shots you don't take don't go in. So it was kind of a back story to how that-- sort of where it came from and how it kind of got out there. [MUSIC PLAYING] From a young age, and when I was five, six, seven, 10, my dad drilled in my head, this is going to be your strengths. And whether we're skating, or my shot, power and strength was not going to be my forte. Agility, balance skating, precision shooting, target shooting was going to be my strength. So I continuously worked on shooting for accuracy. I didn't have the hardest shot. I didn't have the quickest release. But what I had was a will to want to score. And I think that made up for a lot. On top of that, my dad was a big believer that they don't ask you how you scored. They ask how many you scored. And so from the time I was 14, 15, playing junior hockey, I would stay on the ice after practice. And it was always at the end of practice because that's when the ice is bad, and that's when it's chopped up, just like the end of a hockey game. And then I would go from all different angles on the ice, over the red line, shoot it to the empty net, over the blue line, backhand it to the empty net. And I did it for countless hours all the way from 14 all the way to my years in the NHL. And I would just, after practice, do it every day. It was part of my practice routine. Ultimately, it led to the year that I scored 92 goals. I believe I had 12 empty net goals that year. No matter who you are and how well you've done in anything you do, whether it's school, or sports, or business, you always got to think tomorrow can be a better day. And I always really believe that I can be better the next day. I can be better the next game. I can be better in the next playoff series. And so I took that. And I don't care who you are, at what level you're at, having a belief in yourself is 3/4 of the battle. And having a feeling of that you can do it is so important and so imperative. And so I really set out on a mission that year that I was going to change my style a little ...

About the Instructor

Over his 21-year career, Wayne Gretzky not only rewrote the NHL record book, he also set himself apart as one of the most accomplished professional athletes of all time. Now “The Great One” shares the moments and mindset that made him successful so you can aim for greatness in your own life. Learn the power of an athlete’s mindset and tap into passion, motivation, and dedication. Get ready to take your biggest shot yet.

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Wayne Gretzky

NHL star Wayne Gretzky shares his journey and his approach to a winning mindset, from tapping into your true passion to committing to success every day.

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