The Falsehood of Failure and the Truth About Winning

[The 14th Colony]

To use an analogy of the statement, “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic”, I say that in life, “once a winner, always a winner.” Not that the two are related, but just as the alcoholic has the potential to fall off the wagon and drink again, even when doing well in life, so too does the one-time winner, even when going through trying times when all seems lost, have the potential, on the perceived wagon trail to failure, to “fall off the wagon” and win again. Even the concept of failure itself is not real but a deception. It is a deception of perception because an interruption on the course to winning need not be a barricade, or even an obstacle, but merely a speed bump.

Once a winner, always a winner. Even if “losing”, the potential to win is still there deep inside. And with the potential already there, there is hope. It is not a wall, just a speed bump.

When I was a photo-department manager at Eckerds, I had an unbeatable streak of winning sales contests. Other managers referred to me as the one who kept beating them. Each time a new contest began, prior to its beginning, I always told my store manager that I was going to win. I never said, “I am going to try to win,” and I did not try to win. Ever. I always said, “I’m going to win this contest.” I knew I was going to win. Other managers knew they would not beat me. They tried, oh they tried, but they never beat me. Not because I tried harder, for like I said, I never tried, but because I decided in my heart beforehand that I was the winner. I pushed to win, but I didn’t try to win. I just won.

In the film The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker faced a great obstacle. He told Yoda, “I’ll try.” But his determination to try was his failure. Yoda told him, “Try not. Do, or do not, there is no try.”

I never tried to win the sales contests; I just won them. I set it in my mind before the contest began that I was the winner. So I won even before the race began. I was not a winner because I had won; I won because I was a winner.

I’ve been going through some trials recently and it felt like I was on the shaky wagon on the wagon trail to failure. But once a winner always a winner, even when the deceptive cloud of defeat seems dark. Winning a race is not what makes you a winner; being a winner is what wins the race.


So when things aren’t going as they should, it is time to fall of the wagon…and win again.

[Lara]

Interesting, and yet if you had gone to manage the area of the manager who'd consistently come in the bottom three and you had 'won' there without trying, I would accept that its about believing (law of attraction and all that positive affirmation stuff) and nothing to do with the circumstance of the other managers. or is the message some people are natural winners, and therefore some are born to lose regardless??

House is annoying because he is always right in the end, and doesn't have to 'try' to be brilliant. Like Sherlock Holmes (and the new iterations are deliberately House-like) the right answer comes from the deeper levels of intuition an intellect, missing in the rest of us. He would be insufferable if he bragged how easy it was. Its bad enough that he is smug sometimes.
The writers walk a fine line because few people like figjam mates.
His character is therefore balanced by his flaws and failings, often his inability to do the simple things that make the rest of us happy, like interact with people, to love and to trust.. his inner struggle with pain and addiction, or the way he drives away the people he needs most.

[martok2112]

If you attempt to fail, and you succeed, which have you done?

[The 14th Colony]

Originally Posted by Lara

Interesting, and yet if you had gone to manage the area of the manager who'd consistently come in the bottom three and you had 'won' there without trying, I would accept that its about believing (law of attraction and all that positive affirmation stuff) and nothing to do with the circumstance of the other managers. or is the message some people are natural winners, and therefore some are born to lose regardless??

House is annoying because he is always right in the end, and doesn't have to 'try' to be brilliant. Like Sherlock Holmes (and the new iterations are deliberately House-like) the right answer comes from the deeper levels of intuition an intellect, missing in the rest of us. He would be insufferable if he bragged how easy it was. Its bad enough that he is smug sometimes.
The writers walk a fine line because few people like figjam mates.
His character is therefore balanced by his flaws and failings, often his inability to do the simple things that make the rest of us happy, like interact with people, to love and to trust.. his inner struggle with pain and addiction, or the way he drives away the people he needs most.

It's funny you ask what you did in your first paragraph. At one point right in the middle of one of the contests, in which I was in first place, they transferred me suddenly to one of the busiest store in the region. Turns out that store manager there who had a lot of pull, whose photo lab had never won a sales contest, knew my reputation and wanted me in his store to win it for him. So I got taken out of 1st place and put into a lab running in roughly 15th or so place. He asked me to win the contest for the prestige of his store, which the promise that since he had the District Manager's ear (this was the truth, they were friends) if I won it he would get me a raise. I told him it was a daunting task, but that I would do it.

Well, it wasn't easy, not easy at all. I had to teach myself to use the different equipment there, train the employees to sell my way, and get to know the steady customers there. It was hard as hell, and in that case I really did try, not just do automatically, but tried like hell. When the contest was over I was in 2nd place, one percentage point from tying with 1st place. So I lost, but then again, I took that lab 1/2 into the 8 week contest all the way to .1 from tying with first. So I lost, but in a way I won. I didn't get the $200 prize, but I still won, from a certain point of view. I don't think the previous manager tried anywhere near as hard as me, because he didn't believe in the contest, in his ability to win it.

I am definitely no House, although I have his limp. I only wish the brains and problem solving abilities came to me so easily.

[The 14th Colony]

Originally Posted by martok2112

If you attempt to fail, and you succeed, which have you done?

You have succeeded in failure, an oxymoron. I've been asked, if you were aware that no matter what you did, you could not fail, what would you attempt to accomplish? I replied that I would attempt to fail because to succeed would throw it all in disarray and cancel itself out.

[Rhaven Blaack]

Granted, I am neither an optimist or a pessimist. I am an analyst. I need ALL pertinent information in order to come to a conclusion about any topic.
So NO, the glass is neither half empty nor half full. Half of the volume contains water, the other half contains air. What matters more is, did you just pour water into the glass, or pour water out?
With that being said, I (VERY STRONGLY) believe that having a positive (and "CAN DO") attitude and the willingness to do all that you can to succeed, when starting a project (regardless of what that project is), you do have a GREATER chance of succeeding and coming out on top.

[Senmut]

Originally Posted by martok2112

If you attempt to fail, and you succeed, which have you done?

Loused up the betting?

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by The 14th Colony

You have succeeded in failure, an oxymoron. I've been asked, if you were aware that no matter what you did, you could not fail, what would you attempt to accomplish? I replied that I would attempt to fail because to succeed would throw it all in disarray and cancel itself out.

<------- mind....blown.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by Senmut

Loused up the betting?

Lol...bet on a duck in a cockfight, and it might win if the right people are in the room.

[Darrell Lawrence]

After reading this, I'd say the biggest failure is the fact there is a deadline to anything. To win is to complete, no matter the time limit.

[AJMarks]

If you lose and fail to understand why, then you've failed twice. If you won but failed to understand why, then you only had a half a victory.

[Jubal]

"Winning." -Charlie Sheen