Imagine that you have worked hard at your profession. You have done very well and now compete against the very best at your skill. One day you go to work and you do everything perfectly. For one moment you are the “best against the best”. Ken Johnson accomplished that in 1964.
On April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson was pitching for the Houston Colt 45s (now the Astros) against the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched a no-hitter. However, this accomplishment came with a very large exception. Ken Johnson became the first and only pitcher to pitch a complete nine inning no-hitter AND LOSE THE GAME. Due to two errors, Cincinnati scored a run and beat the Astros 1-0.
I thought about those times in my life when I did everything as well as possible but did not get the results that I deserved. Sometimes these disappointments were minor because of a subjective judge (I finished 8th in a speech contest). Other times the results were more devastating like the loss of business or even a job.
It is normal at that time to feel indignant at the injustice. People feel angry and hurt. It is not uncommon that people become bitter and cynical. However, after the emotions settle down, the fact is Ken Johnson did pitch a no-hitter.
I still did my work well. There comes a time when we need to focus on our skills and abilities, not the unjust results. Lifting our heads up we need to take our skills and abilities and use them again. We can not always control every single result but we can control our effort.
Ken Johnson went out and pitched some more. With the confidence of knowing we can do our work well, we can go out and pitch again also.
Pitch the no-hitter… and move on. There are more games to play.