Monday, April 15, 2013

What Constitutes Failure?

Hey World,


          The game of life is a tricky game to play. I know that's a very cliche thing to say, but its still remains true. You hear it all the time, people say " You win some, you lose some", as if it is just as acceptable to lose as it is to win. Makes me think, about the times I've "won" in life and the times I've "lost". Are they of equal significance? The answer is no, in fact a HUGE NO! I submit to you that losing, is better than winning....Wait! Let me finish before you freak out...I am saying that ,in life, you get more out of losing than you do winning. That is, if you apply yourself. Which is the constant problem for a a lot of people.

          See when we lose we like to think of it as failing. I don't like to see it that way. Losing is life's way of telling you exactly what you need to do next time to make it better.I believe that failure is two things. First, failure is what happens when you refuse to acknowledge the tools that losing gave you. Its not that you simply don't learn from your loss, its that you refuse to acknowledge that you need to. The thing about losing is you can lose more than once and for more than one reason. This little nugget of "life's lessons" is hard to perceive, hence multiple mistakes, repeats, breakups, missed shots, and lost opportunities. Personal example: I've been in a few relationships, people would call them failed. In some ways I can see why, but if I apply the "loss lessons" ( as I will call them) would it all have been a failure? I like to think I've learned a lot from relationships about myself and what I need, dislike, can tolerate, and love, as well as how I react and function in certain situations. Relationships is only one are though. I remember a situation where I was playing a 3 on 3 basketball game. My team had already beaten the other team 2 games to none. We had a simple formula my teammate would drive the ball in, his father would set an off ball screen for me and my teammate would pass me the ball and I'd shoot the outside jumper. We would do this for at least 5 of the 11 points needed to win. Thing is, the other team caught on to the play and my shooting approach and blocked my shot every time I went up to shoot the ball. I became so frustrated that I stopped trying for the shot, and the other team won the game. What happened there was the other team applied the "loss lessons" and I Failed. We clearly had the skill to beat them for the third time, but I failed to adapt to the new challenges.

          The second way I look at failure, is the refusal to apply what you've learned. You can clearly see that you need to change some things but you don't instead you move on to something different and continue to have mistakes, repeats, breakups, missed shots, and lost opportunities, plague your life. You think your done with it but over and over again it comes back. Why is that? It is because you didn't take the time necessary to apply those loss lessons. So over and over again no matter what you do its going to plague you. It's like this. If your shoes come untied and you fall, do you tuck them back in your shoes without tying them or do you tie them, before you get up? Its simply put in this manner but its a shame how many times we leave our shoes "untied but tucked" in life. I'm so guilty of this just neglecting the fact that I need to improve some area in my life before starting another venture. I think sometimes that its unrelated and won't affect me. WRONG! It always comes around through the side door and takes a big chunk out of my butt. I can't be mad though, I left it there and left the door open for it to sneak in.

          So next time you lose at something or lose someone, remember that life is trying to teach you a lesson, One that could prevent you from further loss in the future and produce a win. More importantly, life is teaching you something that could prevent you from failure.


Till next time world
                    Vic

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