"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost
more than 300 games. On 26 occasions I was trusted to take
the game-winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and
over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
- Michael Jordan in a Nike commercial
There...I said it. Yes, I've screwed up at times. I've said
things that I came to regret later. I hesitated to act when I
should have acted instinctively, or I "jumped the gun" when I
should have been patient. I failed to close a business deal
that was seemingly "mine to lose." Poor choices of role
and/or company, compounded by ignorance (conscious
and unconscious) of signs that I had chosen poorly, have
cost me a couple of layoffs.
They say one can learn more from his/her failures than from
successes. I believe it -- I've learned a bunch from my own
mistakes, as well as from the mistakes of others. In fact,
I've learned some things during my losing efforts that I
might have never learned had I restricted my business ad-
ventures to situations where I was virtually guaranteed to
succeed. And I am most certainly grateful for having met
so many great people -- people whom I may otherwise
would have never met -- during those failed individual and
team efforts.
Michael Jordan's former coach, Phil Jackson (currently
coach of the Los Angeles Lakers), wrote some wise words
about losing in his book Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons
of a Hardwood Warrior which have helped me identify the
positives in virtually every memorable losing experience of
my life:
- Losing is a lens through which you can see yourself
more clearly and experience in the blood and the
bones the transient nature of life.
Eventually, everybody loses, ages, changes. And
small triumphs -- a great play, a moment of true
sportsmanship -- count, even though you may not
win the game.
Fear of failing can cause some to choose a safer path in
order to avoid further losses. The safe path usually
produces mediocrity. IMHO, nothing deflates one's
passion for work more than the pursuit of mediocrity.
Fear of failing can cause others to obsess about winning.
Coach Jackson has a problem with that approach:
- [O]bsessing about winning adds an unnecessary
layer of pressure that constricts body and spirit and,
ultimately, robs you of the freedom to do your best.
Remaining calm and composed in the face of change or
defeat, writes Jackson, "gives you the freedom to go out
on the floor and give the game your all."
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