No Mistakes on the Road to Motivational Opportunities

Posted by Vince Poscente on Fri, Dec 14, 2012 @ 04:58 PM

Scanning down the list of nineteen I couldn’t see my name. I looked again more carefully. I was not listed. There had to be a mistake. 

I found the head coach in the hallway of the hockey rink. Choked up and shaking in my sub five-foot frame I said, “My name’s Vince Poscente. I looked at the list and wasn’t on it. Do you think I was left off the list?”

The coach, Ken Hitchcock, looked down and said flatly, “There are no mistakes.”

I couldn’t believe it. Earlier that day he had faced the forty young teens and said, “If you work hard and show the desire, you will make this team.” From the age of five my entire hockey career was short on talent but long on hustle. I knew that I had more fire than any of the pubescent players in the arena that day.

I played out that season in a B league but quit immediately after. My disillusionment with the politics and my own mediocrity made skiing far more appealing. In skiing I could just play and do it on my own terms.

Had this not happened I would not have been in the position to take up ski racing eleven years later. Had I not ski raced I would not have competed in the Olympics in Albertville. If this didn’t happen I would not have had the privilege to impact hundreds of thousands of people as a motivational keynote speaker, write four books, reach the New York Times bestselling list, establish some amazing friendships and, a few years back, be inducted into the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame.

Garth Brooks has a song called Unanswered Prayers. In the lyrics he describes how he and his wife chance upon an old girlfriend of his. “As she walked away I looked at my wife and then and there I thanked the good Lord for the gifts in my life. Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

Screen Shot 2012 12 14 at 5.08.12 PMMeanwhile, Ken Hitchcock went on to be one of the NHL’s most successful coaches leading the Dallas Stars to a Stanley Cup in 1999. Two years after that I was backstage with Ken at a function. I introduced myself and said I grew up in Sherwood Park and still play hockey in a men's league.

His eyes lit up and we realized that we didn’t live far from each other. We also figured out that he sold me hockey equipment at a store in Edmonton. Finally I dropped the bomb, “Hey, did you know you cut me from a hockey team in 1975?”

He looked back and said, “Are you over it yet?”

“Oh ya. It was the best thing you could have done,” and I left it at that.

In our fast paced world today it is easy to get passed by opportunity or other people. But rest assured, you will only be limited by the forward speed you choose to employ. Leave setbacks behind and put your foot on the accelerator. You never know what unanswered prayers await you.

At times... there are no mistakes!