There was a guy back in my hometown I knew years ago.
Good dude. Cool guy. Solid person.
But if we’re being honest…
He wasn’t exactly who most people would call a “top tier” guy.
Nobody was confusing him with Denzel Washington or Michael B. Jordan.
😂
But here’s what made him interesting.
He shot his shot.
A lot.
And I mean…a lot.
He would approach women consistently.
And yeah…
He got turned down.
Plenty.
But here’s the part that didn’t make sense at first:
He always had a woman.
Always.
Sometimes even several!
At some point I asked him about it.
Like…what’s your secret?
He told me something I never forgot:
“If you put out one fishing pole, you might get a hit…you might not.
But if you put out ten? At least two or three are gonna hit.”
And just like that…
It clicked.
Not just about dating.
About everything.
Most people aren’t losing because they’re not good enough.
They’re losing because they’re only using one fishing pole.
Now let’s talk about the part nobody shows you.
The math.
Take Prince.
Hundreds of songs created.
Only about 47 made the Billboard Hot 100.
That means over 90% of his work didn’t become what we call a “hit.”
And yet…
He’s still considered one of the greatest to ever do it.
Same pattern with Stevie Wonder.
Hundreds of songs.
Dozens of hits.
But most of the work?
Didn’t make the highlight reel.
Even Aretha Franklin.
Hundreds of songs.
Roughly 70 major hits.
Which means the majority of her catalog…wasn’t what the world celebrates.
Still The Queen.
And groups like Earth, Wind & Fire?
Same story.
Timeless impact.
But far more songs that didn’t chart than ones that did.
Then you have Frankie Beverly and Maze (band).
Didn’t dominate the pop charts the same way.
But culturally?
Unmatched.
Which tells you something important:
Not everything that fails one metric is actually a failure.
Now let’s leave music for a second.
Let’s talk about greatness in its purest form.
We’ve all heard the phrase:
“Shoot your shot.”
It sounds good.
Motivational.
Clean.
But nobody really explains what that actually means.
Look at Michael Jordan.
He didn’t just shoot his shot.
He shot it again.
And again.
And again.
And missed.
A lot.
More than he made.
The player most people call the greatest ever…
Missed more shots than he hit.
Same thing with Kobe Bryant.
Over 14,000 missed shots.
Not because he wasn’t great.
But because he kept shooting.
And by the time you get to LeBron James…
The numbers get even bigger.
Because longevity adds something most people don’t think about:
More attempts.
More misses.
More chances.
That’s the part people miss when they say “shoot your shot.”
It’s not about taking one shot.
It’s about being willing to take the next one…
After the miss.
“Shoot your shot” sounds good.
But the people we call great?
They stayed in the game long enough to take thousands of them.
So what’s the pattern?
It’s not that these people failed less.
It’s that they produced more.
More attempts.
More reps.
More output.
And over time…
The hits showed up.
Here’s the truth:
Success isn’t built on a high hit rate.
It’s built on a high attempt rate.
Most people are waiting to be great before they start.
These people got great because they never stopped.
We celebrate the hits.
But the hits are just the visible part.
What we don’t see is the volume.
The misses.
The drafts.
The ideas that didn’t land.
The shots that didn’t fall.
That’s the real game.
If you’re not missing…
You’re probably not in it.
And if you are?
Good.
That means you’re still shooting.
Run the numbers.
Then run it back.
That’s the work
That’s the lens
That’s the logic