Fishers High School

LOSE LIKE A WINNER No matter who you are or where you’re competing to win, you don’t need me to tell you that losing stinks. I’m guessing that, like me, you are a competitor - that you like to win, prepare to win, and expect to win. It’s for those reasons that most of us don’t like to even think about the idea of losing. But if what we're pursuing is meaningful and important, then there’s no controlling that at some point, each of us will have to deal with the pain of a difficult or unexpected loss. And while no one would ever choose it, it’s important to see today that more often than not, losing is actually an important part of learning what it takes to win. Losing in and of itself is, of course, a binary outcome. It’s black and white. Either it happened or it didn’t. But champions are defined in part by their ability to recognize that how you lose isn’t binary. There’s actually a lot of gray area involved there. That means there’s value for each of us in recognizing the different ways there are to lose. Some of those ways you can be proud of, and some you’ll regret. There's value in recognizing the different ways there are to lose - some of them you can be proud of, and some you'll regret. Sometimes you give your best, execute your plan, and still come up short. You step in the arena and compete like a champion from beginning to end. You battle hard, face your challenges head on, and don’t give an inch until the final horn. Now don't get me wrong, for a competitor, losing this way isn't any less fun. You'll probably be disappointed or frustrated dealing with the reality that your best just wasn’t good enough. But this is losing that – as you move forward and look back – at least you can be proud of. You lost, yes, but you lost like a winner. By doing so, you don’t have to deal with all the coulda’s, woulda’s, and shoulda’s that can cloud the memory of a loss. If you’ve gotta lose – and we all do, at some point – this is the worthy way to do it. The alternative is that you lose like a loser. Here you allow yourself to settle for less than your best. Your heart isn’t in it. You give up too early or too easily. You're soft or scared or selfish. You make excuses. You play the victim. As disappointing or frustrating as it might be to realize your best wasn’t good enough, it pales in comparison to this – to accepting that you’ll never know if your best was good enough…because you didn’t give your best. This is not the kind of losing you can be proud of. In fact, I can assure you this is losing you’ll regret. It becomes a memory clouded with those coulda’s, woulda’s, and shoulda’s. If you’ve gotta lose – and we all do, at some point – this is not the way to do it. I hope, wherever it is you’re competing today, you’ll make the commitment to win and lose like a champion. Step in the arena and compete from beginning to end. Go all in and give your very best. By doing so, of course, you give yourself the best chance to achieve the winning outcome you're after. But even if it’s not enough, you’ll know you left it all on the table. You won’t have to look back and wonder what might’ve been. Sure it stings, but if you’re tough enough to compete like that, then you’re probably also tough enough to handle it, learn from it, and use it to become more worthy of winning next time. I know you don’t want to lose, but if it happens – when it happens – make sure you do it the right way. Lose like a winner. That’s a decision you won’t regret.