By BY JOHN C. MAXWELL
My friend Robert Schuller once asked, “What would
you attempt to do if you knew you
wouldn’t fail?”
That’s a great question, an inspiring question. When
most people hear it, they start dreaming. They are
motivated to reach for their goals and to risk more.
I have a question that I think is just as important: What
do you learn when you fail?
While people are usually ready to talk about their
dreams, they are less prepared to answer a question
about their shortcomings. Most people don’t like to
talk about their mistakes and failures. They don’t want
to confront their losses. They are embarrassed by
them. And when they do find themselves falling short,
they may find themselves saying something trite, such
as “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” The
message is, “Hope to win, expect to lose, and live with
the results either way.”
What’s wrong with that? It’s not how winners think!
Successful people know the way to turn a setback into
a step forward. How? They don’t try to brush failure
under the rug. They don’t run away from their losses.
They learn from them. Every time. They understand that
life’s greatest lessons are gained from our losses—if
we approach them the right way. Mistakes are
acceptable as long as the damage isn’t too great. Or
as they say in Texas, “It doesn’t matter how much milk
you spill as long as you don’t lose your cow!”
WHY LOSSES HURT SO MUCH
In life, sometimes you do win. But other times you get
knocked down. The key is to figure out why you got
knocked down, learn from it, get back up, and move
forward. That’s how successful people win.
Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “It’s only
a game”? I bet if you have, it was from someone who
was losing. Nobody likes to lose. Think of some of the
losses in your life and how they made you feel. Not
good. And it’s not just the pain of the moment that
affects us. Our losses also cause us other difficulties.
Here are a few:
1. LOSSES CAUSE US TO BE EMOTIONALLY STUCK
Author and speaker Les Brown says, “The good times
we put in our pocket. The bad times we put in our
heart.” I have found that to be true in my life. In my
heart I still carry some of the bad times. I bet you do,
too. The negative experiences affect us more deeply
than positive ones, and if you’re like me, you may get
emotionally stuck. Anxiety and fear are debilitating
emotions for the human heart. So are losses. They can
weaken, imprison, paralyze, dishearten, and sicken us.
To be successful, we need to find ways to get unstuck
emotionally.
2. LOSSES CAUSE US TO BE MENTALLY DEFEATED
It cannot be denied that our lives are filled with loss.
Over the course of our adult lives, we lose jobs and
positions. Our self-esteem may take a beating. We
lose money. We miss opportunities. Friends and family
die. And I don’t even want to talk about some of the
physical losses we experience with advancing age!
Some losses are large; some are small. And the losses
we face affect our mental health. Some people handle
it well, while others don’t.
The quality that distinguishes a successful person from
an unsuccessful one who is otherwise like him is the
capacity to manage disappointment and loss. Too often
losing goes to our heads. It defeats us, and we have
trouble coming up with solutions to our challenges. As
the losses build up, they become more of a burden.
We regret the losses of yesterday. We fear the losses
of tomorrow. Regret saps our energy. We can’t build
on regret. Fear for the future distracts us and fills us
with apprehension.
We want success, but we should instead train for
losses. We need to expect mistakes, failures, and
losses in life, since each of us will face many of them.
But we need to take them as they come, not allow
them to build up.
3. LOSSES CREATE A GAP BETWEEN I SHOULD AND
I DID
Winning creates a positive cycle in our lives. When we
win, we gain confidence. The more confidence we
have, the more likely we are to take action when it’s
needed. That inclination to move from knowing to
acting often brings success.
However, losing can also create a cycle in our lives—a
negative one. Losses, especially when they pile up,
can lead to insecurity. When we are insecure, we
doubt ourselves. It causes us to hesitate when making
decisions. Even if we know what we should do, we are
reluctant to do it. When such a gap is created and
isn’t overcome, success becomes nearly impossible. If
we want to be successful, we need to bridge that gap.
4. THE FIRST LOSS OFTEN ISN’T THE BIGGEST
LOSS
When we experience a loss, we have a choice. If we
immediately respond to it the right way, the loss
becomes smaller to us. However, if we respond the
wrong way, or if we fail to respond at all, that loss
becomes greater. And it often leads to other losses. As
the subsequent losses come at us, they seem to
become bigger and bigger, crashing over us like waves
in a violent storm. As the number of losses goes up,
our self-confidence goes down.
We make matters worse when we compare ourselves
to others, because we rarely do so on a level playing
field. We either compare our best, including our good
intentions, to someone else’s worst, or we compare
our worst to someone else’s best. That can lead to a
negative cycle of self-talk. And the more negative it
becomes, the larger our losses appear to be to us. If
our self-talk is angry, destructive, or guilt producing,
we become even less capable of breaking free of the
negative cycle.
If we can overcome an early loss and not let it become
magnified, that can help us move forward. That’s not
always easy to do, but even someone who has faced a
very great loss can learn to do it.
5. LOSSES NEVER LEAVE US THE SAME
The number or severity of your losses isn’t as important
as how you experience those losses. Yes, all losses
hurt. And they make an impact on us, an impact that
is rarely positive. Losses change us. But we must not
allow them to control us. We can’t let the fear of
looking silly or incompetent paralyze us. We can’t let
the fear of negative consequences keep us from taking
risks. Allowing negative experiences of the past to
warp your future is like living in a coffin. It puts a lid
on you and can end your life.
How does one minimize the negative damage of
debilitating losses? First, by letting them go
emotionally. If we want to overcome adversity and
keep from being defeated by our losses, we need to
get past them. And then we need to learn from them!
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE TURN A LOSS INTO A GAIN
If you’re going to lose—and you are because everyone
does—then why not turn it into a gain? How do you
do that? By learning from it. A loss isn’t totally a loss if
you learn something as a result of it. Your losses can
come to define you if you let them. If you stay where a
loss leaves you, then eventually you can get stuck
there. But you can choose to change, grow, and learn
from your losses.
That, of course, is not necessarily easy. A loss doesn’t
turn into a lesson unless we work hard to make it so.
Losing gives us an opportunity to learn, but many
people do not seize it. And when they don’t, losing
really hurts.
Learning is not easy during down times, because it
requires us to do things that are not natural. It is hard
to smile when we are not happy. It is difficult to
respond positively when numb with defeat. It takes
discipline to do the right thing when everything is going
wrong. How can we be emotionally strong when we
are emotionally exhausted? How will we face others
when we are humiliated? How do we get back up
when we are continually knocked down?
I wrote How Successful People Win to answer these
and other questions about learning from losses,
because I believe it can help you win. Most of us need
someone to help us figure out how to do that. If that is
your desire—to become a learner from losses—you
need to change the way you look at losses, cultivate
qualities that help you respond to them, and develop
the ability to learn from them. I believe you can do that
using this road map:
Cultivate Humility: The Spirit of Learning
Face Reality: The Foundation of Learning
Accept Responsibility: The First Step of
Learning
Seek Improvement: The Focus of Learning
Nurture Hope: The Motivation of Learning
Develop Teachability: The Pathway of Learning
Overcome Adversity: The Catalyst for Learning
Expect Problems: Opportunities for Learning
Understand Bad Experiences: The Perspective
for Learning
Embrace Change: The Price of Learning
Benefit from Maturity: The Value of Learning
My primary goal in life is adding value to people. I
hope this book will add value to you, teaching you
how to learn from your losses. That’s how successful
people win!
you attempt to do if you knew you
wouldn’t fail?”
That’s a great question, an inspiring question. When
most people hear it, they start dreaming. They are
motivated to reach for their goals and to risk more.
I have a question that I think is just as important: What
do you learn when you fail?
While people are usually ready to talk about their
dreams, they are less prepared to answer a question
about their shortcomings. Most people don’t like to
talk about their mistakes and failures. They don’t want
to confront their losses. They are embarrassed by
them. And when they do find themselves falling short,
they may find themselves saying something trite, such
as “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” The
message is, “Hope to win, expect to lose, and live with
the results either way.”
What’s wrong with that? It’s not how winners think!
Successful people know the way to turn a setback into
a step forward. How? They don’t try to brush failure
under the rug. They don’t run away from their losses.
They learn from them. Every time. They understand that
life’s greatest lessons are gained from our losses—if
we approach them the right way. Mistakes are
acceptable as long as the damage isn’t too great. Or
as they say in Texas, “It doesn’t matter how much milk
you spill as long as you don’t lose your cow!”
WHY LOSSES HURT SO MUCH
In life, sometimes you do win. But other times you get
knocked down. The key is to figure out why you got
knocked down, learn from it, get back up, and move
forward. That’s how successful people win.
Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “It’s only
a game”? I bet if you have, it was from someone who
was losing. Nobody likes to lose. Think of some of the
losses in your life and how they made you feel. Not
good. And it’s not just the pain of the moment that
affects us. Our losses also cause us other difficulties.
Here are a few:
1. LOSSES CAUSE US TO BE EMOTIONALLY STUCK
Author and speaker Les Brown says, “The good times
we put in our pocket. The bad times we put in our
heart.” I have found that to be true in my life. In my
heart I still carry some of the bad times. I bet you do,
too. The negative experiences affect us more deeply
than positive ones, and if you’re like me, you may get
emotionally stuck. Anxiety and fear are debilitating
emotions for the human heart. So are losses. They can
weaken, imprison, paralyze, dishearten, and sicken us.
To be successful, we need to find ways to get unstuck
emotionally.
2. LOSSES CAUSE US TO BE MENTALLY DEFEATED
It cannot be denied that our lives are filled with loss.
Over the course of our adult lives, we lose jobs and
positions. Our self-esteem may take a beating. We
lose money. We miss opportunities. Friends and family
die. And I don’t even want to talk about some of the
physical losses we experience with advancing age!
Some losses are large; some are small. And the losses
we face affect our mental health. Some people handle
it well, while others don’t.
The quality that distinguishes a successful person from
an unsuccessful one who is otherwise like him is the
capacity to manage disappointment and loss. Too often
losing goes to our heads. It defeats us, and we have
trouble coming up with solutions to our challenges. As
the losses build up, they become more of a burden.
We regret the losses of yesterday. We fear the losses
of tomorrow. Regret saps our energy. We can’t build
on regret. Fear for the future distracts us and fills us
with apprehension.
We want success, but we should instead train for
losses. We need to expect mistakes, failures, and
losses in life, since each of us will face many of them.
But we need to take them as they come, not allow
them to build up.
3. LOSSES CREATE A GAP BETWEEN I SHOULD AND
I DID
Winning creates a positive cycle in our lives. When we
win, we gain confidence. The more confidence we
have, the more likely we are to take action when it’s
needed. That inclination to move from knowing to
acting often brings success.
However, losing can also create a cycle in our lives—a
negative one. Losses, especially when they pile up,
can lead to insecurity. When we are insecure, we
doubt ourselves. It causes us to hesitate when making
decisions. Even if we know what we should do, we are
reluctant to do it. When such a gap is created and
isn’t overcome, success becomes nearly impossible. If
we want to be successful, we need to bridge that gap.
4. THE FIRST LOSS OFTEN ISN’T THE BIGGEST
LOSS
When we experience a loss, we have a choice. If we
immediately respond to it the right way, the loss
becomes smaller to us. However, if we respond the
wrong way, or if we fail to respond at all, that loss
becomes greater. And it often leads to other losses. As
the subsequent losses come at us, they seem to
become bigger and bigger, crashing over us like waves
in a violent storm. As the number of losses goes up,
our self-confidence goes down.
We make matters worse when we compare ourselves
to others, because we rarely do so on a level playing
field. We either compare our best, including our good
intentions, to someone else’s worst, or we compare
our worst to someone else’s best. That can lead to a
negative cycle of self-talk. And the more negative it
becomes, the larger our losses appear to be to us. If
our self-talk is angry, destructive, or guilt producing,
we become even less capable of breaking free of the
negative cycle.
If we can overcome an early loss and not let it become
magnified, that can help us move forward. That’s not
always easy to do, but even someone who has faced a
very great loss can learn to do it.
5. LOSSES NEVER LEAVE US THE SAME
The number or severity of your losses isn’t as important
as how you experience those losses. Yes, all losses
hurt. And they make an impact on us, an impact that
is rarely positive. Losses change us. But we must not
allow them to control us. We can’t let the fear of
looking silly or incompetent paralyze us. We can’t let
the fear of negative consequences keep us from taking
risks. Allowing negative experiences of the past to
warp your future is like living in a coffin. It puts a lid
on you and can end your life.
How does one minimize the negative damage of
debilitating losses? First, by letting them go
emotionally. If we want to overcome adversity and
keep from being defeated by our losses, we need to
get past them. And then we need to learn from them!
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE TURN A LOSS INTO A GAIN
If you’re going to lose—and you are because everyone
does—then why not turn it into a gain? How do you
do that? By learning from it. A loss isn’t totally a loss if
you learn something as a result of it. Your losses can
come to define you if you let them. If you stay where a
loss leaves you, then eventually you can get stuck
there. But you can choose to change, grow, and learn
from your losses.
That, of course, is not necessarily easy. A loss doesn’t
turn into a lesson unless we work hard to make it so.
Losing gives us an opportunity to learn, but many
people do not seize it. And when they don’t, losing
really hurts.
Learning is not easy during down times, because it
requires us to do things that are not natural. It is hard
to smile when we are not happy. It is difficult to
respond positively when numb with defeat. It takes
discipline to do the right thing when everything is going
wrong. How can we be emotionally strong when we
are emotionally exhausted? How will we face others
when we are humiliated? How do we get back up
when we are continually knocked down?
I wrote How Successful People Win to answer these
and other questions about learning from losses,
because I believe it can help you win. Most of us need
someone to help us figure out how to do that. If that is
your desire—to become a learner from losses—you
need to change the way you look at losses, cultivate
qualities that help you respond to them, and develop
the ability to learn from them. I believe you can do that
using this road map:
Cultivate Humility: The Spirit of Learning
Face Reality: The Foundation of Learning
Accept Responsibility: The First Step of
Learning
Seek Improvement: The Focus of Learning
Nurture Hope: The Motivation of Learning
Develop Teachability: The Pathway of Learning
Overcome Adversity: The Catalyst for Learning
Expect Problems: Opportunities for Learning
Understand Bad Experiences: The Perspective
for Learning
Embrace Change: The Price of Learning
Benefit from Maturity: The Value of Learning
My primary goal in life is adding value to people. I
hope this book will add value to you, teaching you
how to learn from your losses. That’s how successful
people win!
I recall 21 irrefutably laws of leadership
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