“There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous.”- Robert Greene.
Winning is an addiction. Every one here on the earth wants to win. Why? Because winning makes you feel happy, it brings friends, it makes you feel important in the society. We look up to winners no matter whichever field they belong to. Be it Tendulkar in cricket or Federer in tennis or Messi in football or even Schumacher in the F1 race. India is a country where we take pride in sharing the stage with winners. We regard winners a great deal and often say, “Wow! I wish I could be like him/her.” And it’s rightly justified. For if there were no winners, there would’ve been no progress in the world. Imagine a world without winners. The only thing that went on would be work; no wins, no ratings, no awards, no thrills, nothing. How insipid would that be! Fair enough, we need winners. All right, how about losers at least? Yes, you heard it right, “losers”
Now don’t you people sitting out there cringe on your couches and facepalm your reactions. I know, by now, that you don’t want to talk about losing. Rest assured, we are not going to talk about losing. Mind it, this piece is not meant for losers, literally. No, I mean it. Just take a while to ponder over this fact. How much emphasis do we lay on winning everyday ? That’s like Sachin hitting a century in every game or Fedex beating his opponents in straight sets in every Grand Slam. If this was a reality, would anyone tune into ESPN or StarSports to watch India play their next match ? Not really, because the outcome would be definite. So what makes winning so important? And why do we shy away from losing ?
I’m not going to preach on winning. There are better preachers available for that. But I’d definitely want to talk about not winning. I feel that today, when everything is growing so fast and access to resources is easier, we want to win all the time like Virus. But what if you pause for a moment, when you don’t win, smile calmly, doff your hat and tell your opponent, “Well done! You were better than me today.” Try this the next time you don’t win. Winning is important, but it is more important to accept your defeat gracefully. If you can accept your failures gracefully, you will be prepared to persevere once again for your goal. Losing gracefully is an art in itself. One who can master this art will not need the ‘banghead’, ‘angry’ and ? smileys on any forum. Learn the lesson thoroughly. We were taught how to win. We have to learn how to lose. Sounds paradoxical, but there is no better antidote for warding away problems than losing gracefully. So the next time you post your results on any forum, add a ? smiley because you have learnt a small secret of winning.