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

by John C. Maxwell

“Man, like a bridge, was designed to carry the load for a

The choice we make at that time is significant. We can choose to remain teachable and fuel our internal desire to intentionally grow. Or we can become indifferent to the opportunities that present themselves for us to keep learning.

Adversity is a catalyst for learning. It can actually create advantages for you if you face it with the right mind-set. It all depends on how you respond to it.

“You never win the gold without hurting.” —Bob Richards

Taking a potentially volatile situation and making it worse is only one way of aggravating a problem. We can also make problems worse when we respond to them poorly.

“Positive thinking is how you think about a problem. Enthusiasm is how you feel about a problem. The two together determine what you do about a problem.” —Norman Vincent Peale

One of the worst things you can do to lose perspective is to start feeling sorry for yourself. Okay, if you have a bad experience, you can feel sorry for yourself for twenty-four hours, but then after that, pick yourself up and get moving again.

There are two kinds of people in regards to setbacks: splatters, who hit the bottom, fall apart, and stay on the bottom; and bouncers, who hit rock bottom, pull themselves together, and bounce back up.

Every beginning ends something. Every ending begins something new.

No change means no growth.

Positive change and a willingness to learn are personal responsibilities.

Julio Melara, who says: “If your career, marriage, job, and life are to improve, you must change. In the mirror you are looking at the problem and the solution. It begins with you making a decision. The people who reach their potential no matter what their background or profession think in terms of improvement.” If you want to get better, you need to be willing to change.

Many people think maturity is a natural result of getting older. When they encounter an immature person, they say, “Give him a few years and he’ll mature.” Not necessarily. Maturity doesn’t always accompany age. Sometimes age comes alone!

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

If you want to develop maturity and gain the value of learning, you need to learn to give up some things today for greater gains tomorrow.

“Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can’t lose.” —Bill Gates

Don’t Let What You Know Make You Think that You Know It All

Maintaining a consistently positive mental attitude will be your greatest ally in growing and learning.

“Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, show me what you will do.”

The problem with my money is the idiot I shave with every morning. If I can get that guy in the mirror to behave, he can be skinny and rich.