Good Game by Ron WhiteI was eight years old. Looking back I remember walking across the baseball diamond of a little league field and forming a line to pass the team that we had just played. The drill was to shake their hands and say, "Good game!" I learned something at the age of eight. It is a lot easier to do that when you win! When you lose, you have a tendency to slap the hand - instead of shake it - and look at the ground instead of the eyes. This is not only true at eight, but it is true for adults as well. A few years ago, I played 16 games in a softball league. You know you are on a bad softball team when motivational speaker, Ron White, is the stand-out superstar of the team! We lost 15 games in a ROW! It was humiliating. During the age-old, "Good game" handshake after each loss, I made a point to look each player in the eye and shake, not slap, the hand. I did this because I knew that when I was eight years old I couldn't do it. I couldn't look my opponents in the eye and congratulate them on a good game. Somehow I took the loss as a hit on my self-worth and felt my self-confidence had been slapped, therefore I did what most eight-year-olds do and I slapped the opponent's hand, not giving the satisfaction of a shake. I was wrong at the age of eight. I'm happy today as an adult that I have learned this lesson, and the lesson is: There is something to be said for losing well. In 1960, Richard Nixon could have contested the close presidential election. He didn't. He lost well and was elected a decade later to the same office. A few years ago, John Thune lost a razor thin election in South Dakota. He could have contested the election. He didn't. He lost well and eventually won a Senate seat. In 2000, John Ashcroft lost a Senate race to a woman who was standing in for her husband who passed away months before. He could have contested. He didn't and became attorney general. Whether it is a baseball game, office promotion or political race, you can tell a lot about a person by how they handle defeat. The individual who handles defeat as a minor setback is not allowing the event to define him. On the other hand, someone who cannot handle defeat is allowing the event to define his self-worth. Events can only define your self-worth if you allow them to. You cease allowing events to define your self-worth when you handle defeat as a learning experience and remount the horse that has thrown you for another ride. In money, your career or love, when you lose - as hard as it may be - look them in the eye, refuse to allow the events to shape your self-worth and shake their hand literally or metaphorically as you say, "Good game." You just might find yourself winning the next game. -- Ron White Regards, Abhishek I believe that I am always divinely guided. I believe that I will always take the right turn in the road. I believe that God will make a way where there is no way |
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