Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

What You Win by Losing
Here's a favorite quote from Hugh Laurie:

"Winning doesn't teach you anything. You win. End of story. But the losing and what you take from it -- that's the interesting bit."

We all like happy endings. We all like the story where the character for which we're rooting wins in the end. We especially like the idea of us enjoying that happy ending, us enjoying that final victory.

It's easy for us, thus, to overlook what we win by losing. That's right. I said it's easy for us to overlook what we win by losing.

How can that be, though? How can anything good come out of losing?

Every victory is built on the back of numerous small defeats. Think of a sports team on a quest for a championship. Is that victory won solely on the field in that championship game? Or is it built on the back of all those months and years of practice?

Those many, many practices identified weaknesses. Those many, many practices involved struggle to overcome those weaknesses. Those many, many practices equipped the players to play the kind of game they needed to play in order to win in the end.

Discovering, and correcting, those small failures was the foundation of that final success, that happy ending.

That's why you never see a sports team rest on their laurels after winning a championship. They turn their minds immediately to defending their title and winning it again, the next season.

That's why you don't see many successful business owner take it easy once they reach success. There's always a new challenge to face, new losses to uncover and correct.

If you satisfy yourself with small victories, it's end of story, nothing more to gain, nothing more to enjoy. It's what you take from the losses that can drive you to even bigger successes.

Don't give in to the temptation to give up when you experience defeat. That's the point where real winners get started.
Jeff

Labels: inspirational quotes