The Agony of Defeat
The agony of defeat – we’ve all felt it. Click PLAY to hear George & Mary-Lynn share how to overcome it on The BIGG Success Show podcast.
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The agony of defeat was met by countless teams as another year of March Madness in the NCAA Tournament comes to a close.
That’s the nature of the game: You get 40 minutes to play basketball. When the final buzzer sounds, one team goes on, and one team’s incredible season comes to an end.
We love watching these games, mainly because the winner isn’t determined until the final seconds. Many games were won by only one basket, or even just one point.
What’s also fascinating about these games is that a team doesn’t lose because they played bad. In fact, many of them have their best game of the season – yet head to the locker room feeling the agony of defeat.
They played their hearts out but came up short.
The Agony of Defeat in Life
Narrow defeats happen to us in life too:
- You put yourself in the running, but missed getting that promotion.
- You had the best interview ever, but didn’t get that job.
- You gave everything to your business, but still didn’t make a profit.
- You put your best efforts forward, but fell short of your goal.
The level disappointment can feel like a punch to the gut. Or a kick in the head. It just hurts. Your mind races as you look back and wonder what you could’ve or should’ve done differently. But often there isn’t an answer – you did all you could, it just didn’t turn out in a victory.
All you can do is pick yourself up and go on. Learn what you can from it, and carry that new knowledge with you.
Don’t blame yourself or others. Don’t use it as an excuse to hide from the next opportunity. Don’t let it make you cynical.
As Maya Angelou so eloquently says, “While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.”
Finding Victory in the Agony of Defeat
An important step to take after a loss is to look at the BIGG picture.
- Instead of looking at what you lost – focus on what you gained.
- Instead of looking at what you didn’t achieve – focus on what you accomplished.
- Instead of feeling disappointed in the outcome – focus on being satisfied with the effort you made.
As legendary basketball coach John Wooden says,
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you’re capable of becoming.”
Are you giving your all to become the best that you can be? Then we’d say that’s a BIGG win – and that leads to BIGG Success!
How do you take defeat and play on?
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00895-040814.mp3
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