Win or learn

If we go back to what was going on at school, it was always about who would have the best grade or, at least, the goal was to be above average. If you were at the top of the class, you were congratulated and told that you were a winner, and you would succeed in life. Win or learn. If you were below average, you were told that you were a failure, a loser and that if you did not work for better grades, you would get nothing in life.

You would work to avoid making mistakes, and you would work to always have the best grade, which meant always having the right answers.

Then we grow up and realize that real life doesn't work like that. If you continue to work this way, not make mistakes, and stay strictly within the school lines, well, you will not achieve much since you will never take any risks.

It is when you take risks and increase the probability of making mistakes that you can achieve incredible goals.

When you become an adult, it is important to think that either we win or we learn.

We learn from our failures. We learn even more from failure than from victory.

If I take the example of a competition that I did maybe 2 years ago, a competition that went very well, I didn't have any difficulty winning first place. But when I came home to reflect on what I had learned, well, I couldn't make up my mind about what I could use later on in training or for the next competition.

The second competition unfolded in a completely different manner. I immediately sensed that I lacked the right mental state for it, and, in reality, I faced immediate elimination.

I disappointed myself for not handling the competition better, and for not comprehending what had transpired. It took me months to analyze and derive lessons from it—lessons that I could later apply in training or future competitions.

I learned a lot from my defeat in the competition.

At the time, I was very disappointed and felt like I had hit rock bottom. I told myself that I wasn't worth much, wondered why I practiced my sport, and told myself that I didn't have the skill level. I asked myself a lot of questions, and this is where some people give up on their sport, to the point where they lose self-confidence.

So, of course, a small part of self-confidence diminishes during the defeat, but it is precise all the learnings that one gains that must help rebuild confidence.

It's impossible to progress if you never lose, you take no risks and stay in your comfort zone. We only progress if we push the envelope, and to reach a higher level, we will inevitably encounter defeats; that's how we learn. So, there is no real defeat in life unless we give up. Otherwise, it's either we win and then immediately move on to something else, not lingering on our victory, or we learn and continue to advance, to progress.

If there is no defeat in your life, it's because you haven't set yourself ambitious enough goals. We often set small goals and convince ourselves that we can achieve them anyway. We don't take risks.

You always have to aim for difficult goals. Take calculated risks.

Visit: https://www.MaximumComposure.com

Next read: https://mentalaccelerator.com/resource/grit/get-out-of-your-comfort-zone