Today’s quote comes from Danny DeVito: ‘The best are not afraid of defeat. It’s part of success.’
That sounds paradoxical when you first read it. Isn’t defeat to be equated with failure?
In fact, many people would think that defeat is a failure. In the short term this may be true, but in the long term I think it’s a fallacy.
Here are my reasons why defeat is the cause of success:
1. Without a defeat, you stick to the old and familiar behaviour. After all, your previous behaviour has proved you right, because it has led to your current success. Defeat gives you the opportunity to rethink your behaviour, to learn and to develop further.
2. Defeats open up the opportunity to discover something unexpected. My great-uncle, for example, was taken prisoner by the French during the Second World War. It was a defeat in the truest sense of the word. During his captivity, he met his future wife and became the owner of a large farm, became mayor of the town and had four children. He died happily in France.
3. Defeats also give you the motivation to improve and not to experience such a similar defeat again.
There are certainly other positive aspects that arise from a defeat. If something positive has come out of a defeat for you, I would be delighted to hear your comments.
