Lately I’ve been thinking about victories and successes. If you go on social media, visit with a friend, or watch your favorite sport, it’s all about victory and success. On social media everyone talks about their kids getting ‘A’s, or, here in Florida, winning at Pickleball. Go to a cocktail party and folks will brag about their successful new idea. Even in the case of sports, the media will often interview the winning team while the team that loses prefers to avoid answering questions.
Successes are desirable and losses are not. This ‘fact’ is so endemic in our society that nobody even questions it. But what if we turned the entire concept on its head. What if we give away our victories, while owning our failures?
A Different Way to Think.
I know it sounds like a strange idea but stick with me. While victories make us feel good, they teach us nothing. If you do something well, you will simply repeat that action expecting to get the same result. You are no longer learning. In addition, victories are hollow because there’s no place to go from victory. You’re at the top. You will try to stay there but really, there is only one direction you can go, down. On the other hand, failures offer opportunity for growth. You don’t want to repeat a failure. As a result, failures make you think about what could be improved and allow you the opportunity to improve in the future. It’s only through failure that we grow and improve.
Learning and Growing.
What if we made a habit of giving away our victories? What would happen if, every time you win, you give credit to somebody else? Let then feel the pride of success. Victories do little more than provide us with temporary satisfaction. An injection of Dopamine. At the same time, what if we owned our failures. If something doesn’t work out as planned, take full responsibility for the results. Absorb the failure and seek to find the lesson that will allow you to become a better business owner, person, spouse, or parent. There is value and opportunity in failure, find it.
I realize this is unconventional, but I believe that giving away your victories and owning your failures is the only real path to improvement and, overtime, greater success.
Wishing you enough defeats to create the exceptional success you deserve.
