In 1989, during a quarter-final match of the World Youth Championship held in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria scored four goals in twenty three minutes. This was a legendary feat considering the fact that they were up against a good Russian side and had been trailing the Russians 0-4 up till the last twenty three minutes of the match. Nigeria eventually won the match during a penalty shootout.
Brazil were the favourites to win gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics men's football. The team met Nigeria in one of the semi-final matches of the competition. Brazil had beaten Nigeria 1-0 in the group stage. For the greater part of the match, Brazil were leading. At a point, Brazil were three goals up against Nigeria’s one. But with 12 minutes left, Nigeria scored two goals to send the game into extra time. Nigeria won the match with a golden goal in extra time. In the final match of the competition, Nigeria again came from behind to beat their opponents, Argentina.
In 1999, during the European Champions League Final, Bayern Munich had led Manchester United by 1-0 into the stoppage time but two goals from Manchester United in the stoppage time gave victory to the Manchester club. It was a dramatic comeback.
During the 2005 Champions League Final between AC Milan and Liverpool played in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul AC Milan were three goals up by half-time, prompting some Reds fans to leave. But in six crazy second-half minutes, Liverpool equalised and went on to eventually win the match in a penalty shoot-out.
The opening game of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations saw Angola leading Mali 4-0 till the last four minutes of the game but somehow the Malian players conjured up 4 goals in 11 minutes to end the game in a draw.
What do these stories teach me? That I should never give up early and if I have to give up at all, I should ask myself these questions:
- Why am I quitting?
- Why did I start initially?
- Did I overwhelm myself too fast?
- Was my goal initially manageable?
- What about everything I sacrificed?
- Am I quitting because I keep failing?
- Would my life be better if I give up on this goal?
- What would I tell someone else if they were in my shoes?
Let me end this post with some quotations I stumbled across.
“No. Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.”
― Pittacus Lore
“Do it again.
Play it again. Sing it again. Read it again. Write it again. Sketch it again. Rehearse it again. Run it again. Try it again.
Because again is practice, and practice is improvement, and improvement only leads to perfection.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich
Do not worry. Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. (unknown)
It does not matter what your scorecard reads at the moment; what is important is how it looks at the end of the day. For you fulfill purpose in life, you must start with the end in mind. Never ever give up! You can rewrite your story the way you want it while you are still alive. Thanks, Darasimi for this wonderful piece.
ReplyDeleteI will say they didn't let there failure define them, either they fail forward. There last statement is we tried.... at last we succeed!
ReplyDelete