Last year I suffered a calf injury from running. I just couldn't shake it, no matter what I tried and I ended up racing with the injury still there. Not surprisingly, the race was an entire loss, or so I thought. It turns out that the injury was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I know this now, because of what I have learned and what I have changed as a result of that apparent loss. As a result of the injury, I have been able to understand and overcome so many of the limitations of my old running patterns. Looking back, my loss last year is leading me towards a spectacular win.
This has often been my experience. What starts out as a loss can become an exciting win which helps me to power towards later successes. Let me explain how.
First let's look at winning.
Winning in any situation usually feels great. It is often the end of a goal and a long process of action. So rightly, we can celebrate our victory. But what does it tell us about the next step? Not a lot. Winning is usually the end of a process, and in a way it can be a sort of dead end. I love winning and it is something that we should all strive for, but a win today often won't help us progress tomorrow.
…Then let’s look at losing.
A loss, on the other hand, immediately shows us where to go to work. If we lose an important client or our finger stumbles in the middle of a concerto we can't help but see the next weakness to work on. A loss is able to clearly display what our next priority should be. Where, a win can be a one time gain, a loss can lead to ongoing gains.
What can make a loss Productive?
The only thing that makes a loss productive is attitude. A loss in one person's life becomes a tragedy, the same loss in another person's life becomes a source of progress. The difference is in how the people see their loss. What then, is the best attitude to capitalize on a loss?
There are three attitudes that will make the most of a loss:
- 1. We must first take the attitude that loss is inevitable. Even the most skilled, motivated, golden person will experience losses from time to time. We have to expect that we can't win every time.
- Next we must take the attitude that a loss always includes a valuable lesson about winning.
- Thirdly our attitude should drive us to relentlessly pursue these lessons and make them work for us.
- You are in line for a promotion and a job opens up directly above yours
- You think you are a walk-in for the position so you drop in your application
- Two weeks later a new guy shows up in your department. He has come from another company and he has been given the job that you expected to get.
You watch this new guy carefully and you start to understand why he was successful in beating you to the job. You discover that he is an expert networker. After only a few days he is already on first name terms with people that you didn't even know existed. Not only does he know everybody but he is able to use these connections to get things done well. No wonder he was selected for the job, especially seeing as though he plays golf with your boss, goes fishing with your colleagues and has just invited you and the rest of your work group out to an exhibition later that week. Here is the lesson. If you were more involved with the people that you work with, then you would be more productive. If you take this lesson and put it to work, then for the rest of your life you will reap the rewards. Starting from this day onwards, losing that job may have made your career, but only if you put the lesson into action.
Bonus #1
The first bonus that comes along with this positive new attitude is that it enables us to extract value from past losses as well. Instead of becoming jaded old cynics, we can realize that an old loss can hold as much value as a new win if we are able to apply its lessons. Instead of having our lives ruled by regrets and failures, we are able to ask "What can I learn that will power me forward?" Remember, this doesn't take away the loss, it just turns it into a positive force instead of being a dead weight.
Bonus #2
The second bonus is that in some strange way it also becomes possible to look forward to future losses. We are able to embrace risk, knowing that if we win, we can celebrate and if we lose, we can learn how to increase our chances of winning next time. Either way we come out on top and so taking risks is not such a terrifying ordeal any more.
So from now on, we should never despair over a loss. Of course it is right to feel sadness, and to wish we had won. But our new attitude will remind us that losing from time to time is inevitable. That losing contains valuable, even crucial lessons for us. And that if we put what we learn into action we can soon experience gains that even outweigh the benefits of winning in the first place.
Which loss in your past can you learn from? What is the lesson? Which loss are you so afraid of, that you choose to avoid the risk in the first place?
Thanks
Tom
This article was written by Tom O'Leary from www.LifeGoalAction.com. His site is loaded with tools that help people make the most of their finest asset...their lives. Head there now if you want to kick your personal progress into hyper-drive.
