As much as I don’t want to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles loss yesterday in the Super Bowl, it has to be how we start this week. We call it, “losing,” when we are talking about sports, and rightfully so. Every football game (and most other sports) ends with a winner and a loser. And after a loss, we talk about, “bouncing back,” “recovering,” and “overcoming” what just happened. There is always another game or, at least, another season to do better.

In the corporate world though, we don’t call it losing, we call it failure. Can you feel the difference already? Failure is a whole heck of a lot heavier. And we don’t use words like “bouncing back,” “recovering,” or “overcoming” what just happened. We don’t look at it from a, “next game,” or “next season,” kind of mentality either. It simply sits there, with all its weight, and gnaws at us for a good long time. Why do we do this to ourselves?

So here’s the lesson for all of us: There is a simple but effective way to deal with ALL losses, errors, mistakes, etc: extract the lesson, commit the lesson to memory, forgive yourself, and move forward with confidence. Did the Philadelphia Eagles lose? Absolutely! Did the The Kansas City Chiefs win? 100%. It was a great game—I just didn’t like the end result. Look at your own life. That wasn’t failure–and you know exactly what you’re thinking about in your own life when you read the word “failure.” It was a loss, that’s it! Move on to a new game or a new season! But please remember to forgive yourself. It happened and there was a valuable lesson that you learned, so be grateful. Now it’s time to move forward with confidence!

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth