On losing and getting better
What does losing feel like to you?
“It's exciting because you have different ways to get better. There are certain things that you can figure out, that you can take advantage of, certain weaknesses that were exposed that you need to shore up. It sucks to lose, but at the same time, there are answers there. It’s exciting when you win, it’s exciting when you lose because the process should be exactly the same. You go back and you look and you find things that you could’ve done better.” — Kobe Bryant
I remember I was interviewed for a job and in my head I didn't perform well. I was not great. And that situation sucked. I lost all day thinking about that, how much of a loser I was. That experience hurt my confidence and my energy.
After one day I was reflecting about it and how I could reframe that experience. “Certain weaknesses were exposed”. What should I learn now? What are the knowledge gaps that I need to fill in? How can I be strategic to improve myself?
It's been hard but that's the way I always wanted to approach my life. Failure is there only if you give up. Winning and losing are part of the process. With this kind of mindset, you approach “win” and “lose” in the same way: Finding ways to get better.
In other words, you never lose.