Why Losing Might Be The Best Thing

It is one of my favorite movie scenes. Not because it is epic in nature, or incredibly deep, but rather one of the most relatable and maybe prudent scenes for modern times. For those that haven’t seen the fun Marvel film, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, right before the big battle, Chris Pratt’s character tries to galvanize the, not quite yet, “team”. Struggling to get them to all buy in he gives a little speech with the funny, but prudent line…

“I look around and I see losers. We’re all losers … well, I mean we’ve all lost something.” 

I love this line and think in today’s world is so important. It doesn’t relate to just fitness, but life so much! When I think some of the biggest and most important lessons I learned in life it has do more with losing than winning. Whether that was losing my mother at a young age, lose my ability to use my leg TWICE, losing relationships, losing my first love (basketball), and losing my step-mother. Each loss taught me something about life and myself. 

Unfortunately, in today’s world people are afraid to lose. They set themselves ONLY up to win. Yet, even though they think they won they actually lost! Why? The ability to deal and learn to lose is what actually builds greatness! This isn’t theory by Josh either! 

A VERY interesting in Fortune Magazine shared some startling information! 

“According to research by Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, approximately 70% of children in the U.S. are dropping out of organized sports before the age of 13. This is particularly alarming for women because studies have shown that girls who play sports are more likely to graduate from college, find a job, and be employed in male-dominated industries.”

Before you think it is the standard things about sports like “teamwork”, “discipline”, and so forth, the article goes a very different direction. According to Claire Shipman, television journalist and co-author of The Confidence Code…”Something happens when girls play sports — they embody the experience of not just of winning, but the critical experience of losing. It’s that process of carrying on and clearing hurdles that really builds confidence. It’s an incredibly useful proving ground for business and leadership.”

Sports may not be your thing, that’s cool, that is not really the point. Rather, you need to know to accomplish great things you have to okay with falling on your face a few times. Only doing things that ensure you a “win” doesn’t mean as much as a “good” loss. It actually takes more bravery and confidence to put yourself in those tough positions where you may not come out on top and you know what? You may not. However, what you take away from such experiences can be life changing or let destroy yourself. 

Leave it to the Dalai Lama to say it well, “When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways – either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.”

Does this have ANYTHING to do with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training? A little bit. 

When we created the Clean and Press standard for our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training certification I didn’t think of it as a big deal. In fact, it took me a good couple of weeks (I think around 8-10 I believe) to actually pass the test that at the time had higher standards. You know what that meant? Quite a few failed attempts. 

I won’t say I never got disappointed, but I tried to focus on what I could learn from each attempt. Did I prepare right? Was my program there? Was my technique? Each time I didn’t pass, I didn’t fail, it just helped me prepare better.  

That is why I am honestly left scratching my head when people don’t even try, or try once the Clean and Press standard and convince themselves it is impossible. After all, the REAL test isn’t passing, it is problem solving. 

Once in awhile I like to talk about things that aren’t all training and this is one. At the same time I hope you can see the parallels of fitness and life. I think the best part of fitness is when one really does impact the other. 

We were deep with the Dalai Lama before, how about someone not quite on the same level giving some good advice? “Success is not a destination, but the road that you’re on. Being successful means that you’re working hard and walking your walk every day. You can only live your dream by working hard towards it. That’s living your dream.”– Marlon Wayans
 

If you want to challenge yourself to something VERY different, don’t miss our upcoming DVRT educational programs HERE