Losing Gracefully

No one wants to lose and it brings out the worst in a human being.

Internally the body is producing chemicals to numb the pain and give us energy to run away.  Our reflexes are sharpened and blood in the brain goes to the motor and escape planning parts.

Basic instincts take over and start to dominate our behaviour - our attempts to hide this result in twitches and shakes.  Our ability to concentrate on the things around us diminish, conversation dries up, escape is the primary objective.

People describe the resulting emotions for the following days as:

• depression
• feeling low or down
• weak and lacking energy
• not willing to try again - demotivated
• hatred of the opponent

So before starting a new venture it is well worth planning how you will appraise the risks, manage them as you go along and how you will deal with issues is they arise.

The first step sounds simple, but is the hardest for competitive people to get their heads around - it is have a frame of mind for the job task.

The frame of mind is:

1. 100percent focus on achieving the desired result
2. 100percent confidence that there is no such thing as 'failure'
3. 100percent condfidence in the team you place around you

Competitive people struggle with this because for them each step forward is a battle and as soon as they perceive a step has not gone fully to plan they go into 'failure' mode.  So No 2 on the list is the key to success - it is saying live, learn and push without getting damaged beyond repair, review and win another day.

So 'Failure' is removed from the equation and replaced with 'Learning' and a process for turning that learning into motivation called 'review'.

With the right preparation of mind you are ready to move your idea forward.

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