“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
-Winston Churchill
What Could Go Wrong?
That’s usually the question we ask when we’re staring into a new year, a new opportunity, or a new decision.
What could go wrong?
What if it doesn’t work?
What if we fail at it?
What if people talk about us?
What if I’m not ready for the jump?
But what if we flipped the script this year – What if instead of asking “what could go wrong,” we discipline ourselves to ask, “what could go right?”
Because here’s the truth: both questions require our imagination and mindset. One forces us to imagine the “worst-case” scenarios. The other allows us to imagine what’s possible. One shrinks us. One stretches us.
Over the years as we’ve grown, opened a 2nd location, added services, removed services, taken risks, and made big moves… we’ve made a LOT of mistakes. And I don’t say that lightly. We learned in the field. We learned through late nights. We learned from getting punched in the face by reality. We learned from the things that didn’t work. We learned from moments we wish we could redo. Growth has a price, and most of that price is paid in lessons that we learn.
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” ~ Henry Ford
But here’s something a bit personal: growing up, I watched my parents struggle. I watched things not work out. All the time. I watched the hard circumstances. I saw failure up close. Most people would assume that would create fear. For me, it did the opposite. Failure wasn’t this mysterious, terrifying monster. It was familiar. I already knew what losing looked like. I already knew what hard seasons felt like. And because of that, when it came to business, I never feared failure the way many people do.
The only thing I ever truly feared was letting my family down. Letting my team down. Letting people who believed in me down. That carried a major weight. But failing, Falling short, and Learning the hard way? I wasn’t afraid of that. Failure didn’t paralyze me. If anything, it fueled me. It reminded me that you can recover. You can rebuild. You can always get back up. You can try again!
Yet so many leaders get stuck in analysis paralysis. They gather information. Then they gather more. And more. Then they wait for the “perfect time.” Then they wait for perfect clarity. They wait until the fear disappears. But here’s the bad news… it never does. And here’s the good news… it doesn’t have to!
Faith isn’t moving when you can see everything clearly. Faith is moving when you can’t. Leadership isn’t about certainty. It’s about conviction. Growth doesn’t come with guarantees. It comes with grit.
There are doors God will only open after you move toward them. There are opportunities that only reveal themselves after you put yourself in motion. There are capabilities inside you that you’ll never discover if you keep playing defense with your life.
So this year, push yourself…
Push yourself to dream again – not just about revenue, but about the kind of company you actually want to build and the kind of leader you want to become.
Push yourself to stretch – out of the comfort of what you know and into the responsibility of what your business actually needs from you next.
Push yourself to take the uncomfortable step – the conversation you’ve been avoiding, the standard you’ve been tolerating, the change you know deep down has to happen.
Push yourself to make the call – whether that’s the tough call with an underperformer, the courageous call with a key client, or the humbling call asking for help or mentorship.
Push yourself to finally build or start what you’ve been talking about for years – the system, the role, the team member, the process, the structure that moves your organization forward instead of keeping you strapped to the day-to-day.
Push yourself to lead bolder – with clearer expectations, stronger accountability, healthier culture, and the confidence to stop babysitting the problems and start developing people.
Push yourself to believe bigger – not just in your company’s potential, but in the calling on your life, the people on your team, and what’s actually possible when you stop leading from fear and start leading from conviction.
Stop obsessing over what might go wrong. Start getting excited about what might go right.
What if this is the year your team grows healthier than ever? What if this is the year your business turns a corner? What if this is the year you finally build the system, hire the leader, fix the culture, strengthen your family, reclaim your health, deepen your faith, and begin becoming the leader you’ve known deep down you’re capable of being?
You can stay frozen in fear… Or you can step forward in faith.
You can live worrying about failure. Or you can live committed to growth.
You can spend your energy avoiding risk. Or you can spend your energy building a future.
This year, I refuse to let “what could go wrong?” be the loudest voice in my head.
I’m going to consistently ask a better question.
“What could go right?”