Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn: Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses

by John C. Maxwell

Those who profit from adversity possess a spirit of humility and are therefore inclined to make the necessary changes needed to learn from their mistakes, failures, and losses.

They stand in stark contrast to prideful people who are unwilling to allow adversity to be their teacher and as a result fail to learn.

“Pride is concerned about who’s right. Humility is concerned about what’s right.”

I’m still confident, but I work every day to keep that confidence from becoming a barrier to my ability to learn.

People with a lot of talent often perform at a high level, but the greatest—the absolute best of the best—achieve the highest heights because they possess the spirit of learning.

Humility is foundational to all people who learn from their wins and losses. It is a key to success at the highest level.

I strongly believe that experience isn’t the best teacher; evaluated experience is.

If you bring the right spirit to your work, you can turn a mistake into an opportunity. Success and fame don’t always come to the most talented people. Sometimes they come to the person who can turn adversity into advantage.

We are what we are today because we were what we were yesterday.

It’s been said that a person can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but only four seconds without hope. Why? Hope provides the power that energizes us with life.

I think it’s no coincidence that people who suffer with depression often lack energy. Lack of hope and lack of energy usually go hand in hand. People who have a hard time believing in themselves have a difficult time finding the energy to cope with life and its challenges. In contrast, hope-filled people are energetic. They welcome life and all that it brings—even its challenges.

Hope is our greatest asset and the greatest weapon we can use to battle our losses when they seem to be mounting.

Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope.”

a mature person is someone who has learned from losses, has gained wisdom, and possesses a strong emotional and mental stability in the face of life’s difficulties.

I believe the key to being free from the stranglehold of past failures and mistakes is to learn the lesson and forget the details.

“Maturity is doing what you are supposed to be doing, when you’re supposed to be doing it, no matter how you feel.”

“People who cannot defer current gratification tend to fail, and sacrifice itself is part of entrepreneurial success.”

the average entrepreneur fails about four times before succeeding.

A person who cannot sacrifice will never belong to himself; he belongs to whatever he was unwilling to give up.

Complacency: that is the danger any successful person faces. Microsoft founder Bill Gates observed, “Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can’t lose.” It also makes them think they don’t need to learn.

People’s natural inclination after a win is to take a break. Bad idea. When you’re winning, capitalize on the momentum.

If you want to keep learning and growing, you need to stay hungry. Depending on your personality, winning may remove some of your hunger to win again. So instead, keep your hunger to learn. Then no matter whether you win or lose, you’ll keep getting better.