🏆 Does Failure Exist?

Do you believe in failure? Some of the most elite athletes in the world do not.

Author

Greg Berge
June 01, 2023

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Here's what's coming:

  • Failure Does Not Exist 🏆

  • Michael Jordan and Failure 🏀

  • Tim Kight Gold on the Mind 🥇

  • Read Time ~ 5 minutes.

Let's dive in.

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💭 ONE THOUGHT

The Fear of Failure holds so many people back.

What causes this? What is failure? Does it exist?

The answer is simple in my mind.

Failure only exists if you LET it exist.

It is a mindset. And I can tell you one thing, the most successful people in this world either do not believe in failure or have a very healthy approach to failure.

I believe that the most successful athletes master their minds. They win the mental game within. Much of this is centered on their approach to failure.

So how do you get your athletes, or anyone for that matter, to have a healthy approach to failure?

How can you develop a “Failure Does Not Exist” mindset?

I wrote a 🧵 on this topic a few months ago.

Another great tool is to use examples from the most elite and most successful when we see them.

A few weeks ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the star basketball player, had a video go viral after the Bucks lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs. A reporter asked him if he viewed this season as a “failure” since they lost in the first round.

A visibly upset Giannis had a phenomenal response to this reporter.

His response defines the approach we ALL should take toward the concept of failure, sport, competition, and life, for that matter.

It is an excellent example of what we should share with our team. Here it is…

As an elite athlete, Giannis fully understands that the “Process is the Prize.”

He understands the fragility of competition and the highs and lows that can occur.

Sure, we all want to win a championship. And sometimes we do. But it never defines our journey, the lessons learned, the process, and the memories.

A personal example occurred for me this past basketball season. Our team was ranked in the top 3 of the state all season. We were 26-1 heading into the section Championship Game. We were playing our rival, PEM, to go to state. We knew each other well. We had beaten them in the first game of the season. We were probably favored a bit going into the game.

We played a very good game. PEM played an excellent game. PEM had a senior standout player hit a 26-foot turnaround 3-pt shot at the buzzer in a tie game to go to state.

It was the toughest loss I have had as a coach.

Did that loss make our season a failure? Absolutely not. Was it heartbreaking? You bet. Will it motivate our returning guys this off-season? I sure hope so.

You see, the “Process is the Prize.”

Here is another excellent example of Kobe Bryant discussing his approach to failure.

Kobe says, ”Seriously, what does failure mean? It doesn’t exist…”

Think about failure. Think about your mindset. Think about your team as it relates to failure.

Think about the words we convey as coaches to our athletes. How do they help mold the mindset we want our athletes to have in regard to failure?

This is a deeply reflective question. This is one of the subtle things that we do as coaches. This is the art of coaching.

In summary,

Coaching is SO MUCH about creating the right mindset in your athletes and team. I would argue that this is the most critical aspect of coaching. It is also what separates good coaches and great coaches.

Think about and reflect on your approach to failure and how that impacts your athlete’s and team’s performance and growth.

Good Luck!

📜 TWO QUOTES

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."

- Tim Notke

🐦 THREE TWEETS 

🙋🏼‍♂️ POLL QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Do you believe that failure exists?

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