{"id":1661,"date":"2026-01-05T10:19:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T10:29:19","slug":"think-about-what-could-go-right-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/think-about-what-could-go-right-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Think About What Could Go Right (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cSuccess is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.\u201d<\/em> 
-Winston Churchill<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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What Could Go Wrong?<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s usually the question we ask when we\u2019re staring into a new year, a new opportunity, or a new decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could go wrong?
What if it doesn\u2019t work?
What if we fail at it?
What if people talk about us?
What if I\u2019m not ready for the jump?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if we flipped the script this year – What if instead of asking \u201cwhat could go wrong,\u201d we discipline ourselves to ask, \u201cwhat could go right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because here\u2019s 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\u2019s possible. One shrinks us. One stretches us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years as we\u2019ve grown, opened a 2nd location, added services, removed services, taken risks, and made big moves… we\u2019ve made a LOT of mistakes. And I don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhether you think you can or you think you can\u2019t, you\u2019re right.\u201d<\/em> ~ Henry Ford<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t afraid of that. Failure didn\u2019t 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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet so many leaders get stuck in analysis paralysis. They gather information. Then they gather more. And more. Then they wait for the \u201cperfect time.\u201d Then they wait for perfect clarity. They wait until the fear disappears. But here\u2019s the bad news… it never does. And here\u2019s the good news… it doesn\u2019t have to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith isn\u2019t moving when you can see everything clearly. Faith is moving when you can\u2019t. Leadership isn\u2019t about certainty. It\u2019s about conviction. Growth doesn\u2019t come with guarantees. It comes with grit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019ll never discover if you keep playing defense with your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this year, push yourself…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push yourself to take the uncomfortable step – the conversation you\u2019ve been avoiding, the standard you\u2019ve been tolerating, the change you know deep down has to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push yourself to make the call – whether that\u2019s the tough call with an underperformer, the courageous call with a key client, or the humbling call asking for help or mentorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push yourself to finally build or start what you\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push yourself to lead bolder – with clearer expectations, stronger accountability, healthier culture, and the confidence to stop babysitting the problems and start developing people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push yourself to believe bigger – not just in your company\u2019s potential, but in the calling on your life, the people on your team, and what\u2019s actually possible when you stop leading from fear and start leading from conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop obsessing over what might go wrong. Start getting excited about what might go right.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019ve known deep down you\u2019re capable of being?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can stay frozen in fear… Or you can step forward in faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can live worrying about failure. Or you can live committed to growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can spend your energy avoiding risk. Or you can spend your energy building a future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, I refuse to let \u201cwhat could go wrong?\u201d be the loudest voice in my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m going to consistently ask a better question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat could go right?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSuccess is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.\u201d -Winston Churchill What Could Go Wrong? That\u2019s usually the question we ask when we\u2019re staring into a new year, a new opportunity, or a new decision. What could go wrong?What if it doesn\u2019t work?What if we fail at it?What if … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership","category-motivational"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions\/1667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samgembel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}