What’s the common thread between a baseball player, a physician specializing in tuberculosis, and a Blue politician running for office in a Deep Red state?

Each of these people shows up knowing they’re going to fail.

The baseball player steps up to bat, inning after inning, knowing at best he’ll get a hit three times out of ten.

The physician treats dozens or even hundreds of patients a day—curing them, saving their lives!—while knowing that thousands more will go untreated and die around the world that same day.

The politician keeps holding town halls, keeps going on television news and podcasts, knowing that most people in her state won’t ever even hear her speak.

But it’s worth doing because sometimes you hit a home run. Sometimes, you save a life. And sometimes, you change history and do what other people thought impossible.

But you never know which single instance is the one in which you’ll succeed. So you’ve gotta keep showing up even knowing that this time, you’ll probably fail.

“What would be worth doing even if you knew you would fail?”