More On Losing

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to convince you (and myself) that there is great value in losing. Like "there is only winning and learning". Or, "losing is a learning opportunity". As I mentioned last week, I struggled with this for a long time. I understood the concept, but man I still hated losing.

Then I found an approach that made sense. If you think about a tournament, there will typically be eight or sixteen teams in your event. Maybe even thirty two or sixty four in larger tournaments. How many winners will there be in your event? And what are the chances that it will be you? The answers, of course, took me down pretty quickly. And I realized how focused I was on something that had minimal odds of happening.

So it finally made sense to me - worrying about the tournament outcome as I stepped onto the court in game one (or even BEFORE the tournament) made no sense at all. So I stopped doing it. Now I focus on the process - my drill sessions, my gym visits, and my rec games. In all of these I push myself to my limits whenever I can.
And I eventually fail. It is inevitable. And then I learn. And failure becomes a critical part of my learning process. I get it.

Hope that helps!
See you on the courts.
Michael Gauthier