I love to read. My reading choices are limitless. I read non-fiction as well as fiction. I read for education, inspiration and entertainment. I’m currently reading a seemingly meaningless murder mystery. But, this week I came across a line in that novel that both inspired and stayed with me and I’d like to share it with you:
There is a difference between accepting a loss and earning one.
For some thirty years I have been blessed with being in the vocation of leading sales organizations. In that capacity, I have had countless opportunities to witness competitive “players” in action. Some are consistently successful; others struggle. Some seem to win regularly while others rarely do. There is, however, one common thread between them – none never lose.
In 1989, Toyota entered the luxury car market with the Lexus line of vehicles. When developing their marketing campaign Toyota decided that the simple slogan, the relentless pursuit of perfection, would define the Lexus brand.
“Perfection” may be a great theme for marketing luxury cars, but it is not a great way judge our performance in life. As mortals, we are not, nor will we ever be “perfect.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t pursue, even relentlessly pursue, perfection. That is a worthy goal for winners if it is used and applied prudently. As the iconic football coach, Vince Lombardi is quoted as telling his players in 1959 at his first team meeting as coach of the Green Bay Packers: “Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.”
Anyone can savor victory; winners learn from losses. They improve. They don’t dwell on the pain of defeat. They don’t look for external circumstance to blame. They look for the opportunity that losing provides for them to improve. That’s the difference between accepting a loss and earning one.
Willie Stargell is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. His relentless pursuit of perfection includes two world series victories and the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award. He once said:
“To succeed, one must fail; and the more you fail, the more you learn about succeeding. The person who has never tried and failed will never succeed. The key to surviving failure is to bend, not break. At times, I bent like a palm tree in a hurricane, but I never broke. One must be flexible to learn from failure. Knowledge always takes the edge off fear. Baseball exposed me to my two biggest foes, pride and judgment, and gave me a system to handle both.
You don’t survive long on pride. For pride makes you spend too much time gloating on your success or worrying about your failure to learn. Pride is a dangerous ingredient for anyone who has his sights set on a dream. It inhibits your flexibility and stops you from gaining the knowledge that you need. It also stops you from learning from your best teacher, your failures.
Judgment is equally dangerous. Each person has different abilities and goals; Judgment traps you within your comparisons to others instead of allowing you the freedom of your own dream. Worry about your own results. To be successful one must abandon both pride and judgment or be doomed to mediocrity forever.
Find a dream and never give up on it. And never forget the value of touching, feeling and living every portion of life that comes your way. There’s a lot to be learned in living every day.”
So don’t waste your energy worrying about losing. Instead, concentrate that energy toward your next effort to win. Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back. Dare and you might; hold back and you never will. So dare to be great. That’s the difference between accepting a loss and earning one.
While I may be the best at what I do, I humbly acknowledge that I am still woefully short of being the best that I can be.
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacque”