In sports as in business or life, it takes daily practice and often dealing with feelings of inadequacy or doubt to succeed. These feelings are normal and experienced by everyone. Many have tools or ways of handling these feelings and others don’t. These are not just emotional or mental challenges for aspiring champions but also for reigning World and Olympic champions.
Every successful athlete is someone who failed, yet never regarded him or herself as a failure.
In his book The Four Pillars of Leadership, John Maxwell insists that failure is a necessary part of success and that we should fail upward. At first glance, it doesn’t seem to make sense. He however goes on by saying that opportunities come from these experiences. That innovation, maturity and acceptance result from going through adversity or failure.
As an athlete, I never wanted to consider the idea of failure, but I now understand that this is different to considering myself a failure. Many authors reference Thomas Edison and the many times that he has failed. In trying to invent the light bulb, he has documented two thousand failed experiments.
In helping us to see failure as separate from seeing ourselves as failures, the Bible tells the story of Joseph who was sold off as a slave by his brothers, exported to a foreign land, jailed and emerged as the most powerful man in the kingdom.
He did not hold a grudge against his brothers when they came looking for food during a famine, but instead he saw his struggles as how God intended it, for the good of the people. The advice is that if we want to be successful in what we do, then we have to be able to deal positively with failure.
Reflecting on the recent Under-20 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, many victories were televised. It is also true that many failures were broadcasted. Not everyone could win and many athletes felt like their campaigns were a failure. Good, because that is part of success! May the experience help them deal positively with failure because dealing negatively with failure is not an option. Well done to all the athletes who made it to Oregon and to those who didn’t!
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