In any competition, we all have an ultimate goal, to win.  Who wouldn’t want to be a winner?  I am certain the whole global population wants to be winners. Our minds were set to the equation that to win is success, and losing is failure.

In my line of work, I inspire and motivate people to aim and work towards success in their lives.  I help them achieve their goals, I help them to be winners.  However, we have no control over what fate will bring us.  No matter how hard we try in our journey to success, there will always be a time when failure must step in.  Losing is inevitable and even if we try to shy away from it, we will all encounter defeat in life.  

How would you feel if I tell you that losing is also winning?  Sounds weird right, but it is true.  The defeats we face in life are actually wins in disguise.  This is the other message I impart when I guide leaders in their life’s journey.

Winning is not always bringing home the bacon.  Change the equation of win=success.  If we stick to this thinking, once we fail to achieve the win, we will end up less motivated, less inspired and worst case, depressed.  Go beyond the face of defeat, dig deeper and focus on the experience.  The loss will gain you a life’s lesson and use that lesson to grow and be a better person.  Look at your failures as part of the process that will take you to winning. That makes you the winner!  

We have all heard of stories where an individual lost a competition, joined again the following year, lost again, but joined again and eventually emerged as the winner.  The key to the win was learning from every failure and using that learning to improve the craft.  The end goal is still the same – to win.  However, the strategy to get there makes the difference.  Failure should not be part of the vocabulary, learning and growing should.

“Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before.” —Bonnie Blair