Do you handle defeat well? The agony of defeat!

[vash]

You flub something. Throw up a game losing air ball. Lose a race. Miss a gun shot. Double down on 11 and lose. Miss a hook set on the biggest fish of your life. Whatever.

You have the ability to shrug it off and learn?

I haven't always. But shanking a lot of life's opportunities has allowed me to grow. You?


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[jcommin]

This is a very good question, one that I ask potential hires as they interview for a job. Have you failed, how do you recover from failure?

[porsche4life]

You missed the shot on the big one yesterday didn't you vash?

[Moses]

As I started reading this I was feeling really great. Well adjusted, handle defeat with grace and dignity. Then you mentioned the fish...

[vash]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

You missed the shot on the big one yesterday didn't you vash?

Not me. Haha. My brother. He rebounded nicely. But it was dark there for a moment.




Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[stealthn]

I over compensate by being really good looking

[craigster59]

Golf helps keep me humble.

[nostatic]

I always say you learn more from failure than you do from success.

I hate learning...

[GH85Carrera]

Start Green text

I don't know I never failed.

End green text.

The truth, as a young man I was super competitive and hated to not win.

As I got older I got to the point where I really don't care much. At the autocross I just go to have fun.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Timely question, I could write a book on this.....

I was really struggling for motivation at the beginning of this week after another good beating on Sunday but by today I'm back pushing on as normal.

I've experienced losing and occasionally winning in a various teams for a long time now and even after +500 races I still don't take losing well.

I don't consider myself a bad loser as I don't get mad, upset or angry but just have an overwhelming feeling of disappointed.

The way I tend to cope with it is to put it away in the back of my head so my mind is focused on the tasks and improvements needed for the next race while being optimist better results and next elusive win will come.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Timely question, I could write a book on this.....

I was really struggling for motivation at the beginning of this week after another good beating on Sunday but by today I'm back pushing on as normal.

I've experienced losing and occasionally winning in a various teams for a long time now and even after +500 races I still don't take losing well.

I don't consider myself a bad loser as I don't get mad, upset or angry but just have an overwhelming feeling of disappointed.

The way I tend to cope with it is to put it away in the back of my head so my mind is focused on the tasks and improvements needed for the next race while being optimist better results and next elusive win will come.

Interesting. I would think anyone who races on Sundays is already winning.

[Baz]

A man's character is defined by his mistakes.

I live by this mantra.

[Bugsinrugs]

I don't like losing so I choose not to participate.

[gsxrken]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Interesting. I would think anyone who races on Sundays is already winning.

That's a very valid point. Anyone who "loses" is by definition out there doing something, which is more than 99% of the population can say. There are levels in everything.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Interesting. I would think anyone who races on Sundays is already winning.

Sorry about the hijack vash, but I have to say...

If I read the tea leaves correctly, I would imagine that if our Capt. only raced on Sunday, he would be fired. I can't imagine the pressure to win at his level, and without knowing his affiliation, I would imagine that pressure to succeed extends to the lowliest member of the slowest backmarker in the pits. If ever there was a career where no shirkers are tolerated. . .

My point is, everything he does is part of the never ending race that he has chosen to participate in.

(I've always wondered - just how relaxing is the mandatory vacation in the middle of the season?)

Glad he is on this board and can offer a bit of insight from time to time..

(And my suspicion is, is that his affiliation is much closer to the sharp end of the stick than the 107's.)

Back to the OP, it depends on how many things have stacked up in the loss column that week. Sometimes just dropping a slice of bread butter side down can put me in a funk, other weeks, I've had fairly big disappointments that I can just shrug off and move forward....
It all depends on the previous cycle of events..

[widgeon13]

If you haven't failed, you haven't taken enough risks!

[KFC911]

How do I handle "defeat" you ask? I crank up the volume..."Waiting For Columbus" with the Tower of Power horns is still one of my all time favorites and I was listening to it for about the millionth time in my truck earlier today.

I'm such a weiner...I don't know what "defeat" actually is

[dafischer]

I'll always remember my high school band director's saying..."Adversity builds character", and boy, does it ever.
And it probably explains why I'm such a character today.

[pavulon]

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.

[Noah930]

(For me) it depends. But I also think it depends on a person's innate personality.

When I was a kid I played tennis, and I still remember the time my coach made a comment about being a good loser. Later, in college, I played a team sport. The stakes were different. While it's one thing to remain gracious and sporting, I realized that we had gotten to a point where there are no such things as "good losers." You were either a bad loser, or just a loser altogether. This had nothing to do with sportsmanship. But if you lost, it SHOULD burn. It should have gnawed at you and pissed you off. And that was OK. I certainly didn't want any teammates who didn't feel the same way.

But that was just one endeavor for me. I would think that different failures in life would garner different responses, depending on their relative importance. Then again, there are those who seem super-competitive and can't stand the thought of losing at anything, no matter how apparently inconsequential.