Losing before winning

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Last week, Usain Bolt joined The High Performance Podcast to share the most important advice he has ever received.

The advice came from Usain’s former coach, Glen Mills, who led the Jamaican Olympic track and field team for two decades. Coach Mills began coaching Usain in 2004 when Usain was eliminated in the first round of the men’s 200 meters at the Athens Olympics. After the failure, Usain received advice from his new coach that would shape the rest of his career.

When Usain failed to advance, Coach Mills told him, “You have to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win.” When hearing this for the first time as a teenager Usain did not grasp the full meaning. Now it is clear. Usain explained on last week’s podcast that he understands it to mean that “You will fail at some point. What’s important is what you take away and learn from it. If you can be truthful and honest with yourself, you’ll realize what you need to do to get better.”

3 ways to consider losing before winning this week.

1. How can I get better: Since failing is inevitable, instead of fearing it, we are better off focusing on how we learn from the experience. By thinking of ways that we can get better, we put ourselves on a trajectory that allows us to fulfill our potential. Thinking “how can I get better“ takes our focus away from things that we can’t control and helps us concentrate on what we can do to shape our desired outcome.

2. Am I being honest with myself: As Usain describes, if we can be honest with ourselves, we’ll realize what we need to do to get better. Denying ourselves the truth may help us feel better in the moment, but it prevents us from realizing how we can improve. Consider if we are being honest with ourselves. If so, the actions required to improve will be obvious. If not, we won’t fully understand what we need to do to get better.

3. Losing is a step: If we know that we must lose before we win then losing simply becomes a step on the path to winning. This helps prevent us from getting demoralized after a loss by refocusing our minds the progress that we’ve made and the lessons that we’ve learned. Rarely is losing the step that we want to take, but it is often a necessary one for us to win.

Thanks for reading. Let’s have a great week!