I have been reading an interesting book titled, “Awaken
the Olympian Within,” which is about stories from some
of the great Olympians from the past. The very first
story is by Dan Jansen the Olympic skater—I’m sure you
know his story. He was the star skater predicted to win
the Olympics in the 500 meter race, but keep falling at
the wrong time. He finally triumphed in his final
Olympic race in 1994 to win the gold in the 1000 meter.
The one thing that caught my attention was his response
to failure or loses in his career. He said this:
“Along with asking yourself if you were completely
prepared and if you gave it your best effort, you should
also ask whether you learned anything. For an
achievement to be considered a true success, you must
have learned something from the experience. As Garth
Brooks sings in one of his songs: ‘failure isn’t failure
if a lesson from it is learned.’… Sometimes our greatest
triumphs come from what, at the time, seem like our
greatest failures or setbacks.”
I often get into discussions with my students about
learning from failure or setbacks. The argument that I
often hear is: “How can I possibly learn something from
failure or defeat?” If you look at defeat this way, then
you probably will not learn anything.
I ask my students to not take the time to beat
themselves up and thus lose confidence after a tough
loss. Being successful in sports means that you do
everything you can to improve confidence as you move
forward. You can’t afford to get down and beat on
yourself. A better option is to try to learn something
about yourself or about you performance that will help
you become a better athlete, as Dan Jansen did with his
skating.
Ask yourself these questions:
--How can I learn from the experience and become a
better athlete?
--What do I need to do to become a better athlete and
perform better?
--What do I need to change about myself or my mindset to
triumph the next time?
Editors Note: Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is an author,
professional speaker, and renowned mental game expert.
He works with athletes and teams in all sports. For more
information, contact Dr. Cohn at:
PatrickCohn@peaksports.com or visit
www.peaksports.com.