Success and failure is something that is present in nearly every field you can pursue. Success is often seen as the desired outcome, and failure is avoided at all costs. But is success always good, can failure become necessary? Can the feeling of failure help you find more success in the future? In this article, I will go over what success and failure is. I will also go over how they both can positively and negatively affect you. This is by going through different examples of athletes or people, and how they may have needed success or failure for themselves.
Success
Completing something you set out to do, or achieving a goal is known as success. In most sports, there is always a winner. The feeling of success could vary between different sports. For example, with sports like cricket, and football, it is a team victory, meaning you have a shared hand in the victory rather than having your complete hand in it. However, with sports like boxing, MMA, and tennis, the feeling of success can feel stronger, as you are competing solely in it. Especially combat sports, as they mostly require physical attributes, like endurance, and strength. In these sports, your coaches, and trainers can only help you so much, but at the end of the day, only you are stepping in there to fight.
No matter what it is you are doing, success is something you want, but is it something you need?
Failure
Failure is always looked down upon, and is completely neglected and overshadowed by success. This means to fall short in something, or to lose. For obvious reasons, it is not something you would hope happens in your job, or career, but it can always occur. Through the examples of combat sport athletes (as fighters would feel the sting of defeat both literally and mentally), I will explain how failure could affect you.
Denial
In terms of denial, there have been many cases in which fighters have refused to taste defeat, be it through making excuses, or just completely denying the decision handed to them. One of the most prolific examples of this came in the name Deontay Wilder, who suffered his 1st career defeat in the rematch against Tyson Fury, in dominant fashion. The fight ended when a member of his team had thrown in the towel, therefore ending the fight. Deontay then fired the one responsible for throwing in the towel, and came out with a multitude of excuses. A few of them being;
- His walkout costume was too heavy, and drained him
- Someone poisoned his water backstage
- Tyson Fury put something in his gloves, making his punches more impactful
- The referee in charge of the fight, was favouring Fury over Wilder
- His trainer conspiring against him, by throwing in the towel
- Claiming he suffered a bicep injury before the fight
Wilder went on to demand a trilogy fight, in which he suffered defeat again, and is now considering retirement.
This clearly shows denial simply prohibits success, and stops you from moving forward. You must come to terms with what happens, and find a way to move forward, rather than blame everything else around you.
Motivation
Sometimes losing can only increase your hunger and drive towards victory. There are lessons losing provides that winning just can not do. An example of this is Francis Ngannou, who is the current heavyweight champion. He quickly made a name for himself, when he was brutally knocking everyone out, including elite level fighters, up until he earned himself a title shot. A lot of people believed he would do the same to the heavyweight champion at the time Stipe Miocic, but he had other plans. Ngannou lost a dominant decision due to him being severely outgrappled. He then lost his next matchup after that.
He took some time off, and returned very similarly to how he began. Knocking people out. He earned his title shot again, and faced his rival Stipe Miocic for the second time. Many thought Stipe could repeat history, as he won the first fight so easily. But Ngannou was able to outgrapple Stipe before going on to knock him out, becoming the champion. He then implemented grappling into his next, and won that fight against another skillful adversary.
He took a weakness and converted it into a strength, and learnt from his mistakes. This is a gift victory can not give you.
Reluctancy
Tasting defeat, especially in dominant fashion, can be something that could make you reluctant when it comes to competing again. This is due to either the fear of losing again, or suffering an injury. In violent sports like boxing or MMA, after going through a hard fought match, and getting damaged along the way, just to lose, could dim the fire you have in you, towards competing again. This could be for many different reasons;
- Fear of developing another injury
- Not thinking it is worth it
- Fear of failing again
- The idea of starting again, or having to rebuild your momentum
- Not feeling motivated enough to commit again
Becoming reluctant leads to you questioning your goals, and could lead to you retiring, and not attempting it ever again. Denial, reluctancy and motivation apply to all aspects in life where failure can be a factor, but it is up to you, whether you want to learn from it or not!
Conclusion
In conclusion, success is what you should aim for, and work towards. However, failing is always a factor, no matter how good, or prepared you are at something. Therefore, it is imperative you learn from it, and use it as motivation. The effects of going into denial, or reluctancy, and reluctancy could hinder you forever, as they will not help you move on, and succeed in the future, as seen with Deontay Wilder. Success helps you in only one way, which is accomplishing something. However, failure is something that is so detailed and can have different impacts on you, depending on who you are.
Winning in something can feel good, but losing is the biggest lesson you can learn about yourself.