Thursday; June 24

I heard a lot of advice when I was growing up but one of the most consistent bits of wisdom was to figure out how be a good loser. Interestingly, another gem was to be a gracious winner. Isn’t that interesting? Could it be that winning and losing isn’t as important as doing it with dignity?
While the value of these two philosophies has been debated through the years, I believe they are both solid principles. When it comes to winning, we should be pleased with our victories and maybe even proud of our accomplishments, but when we tout our own superiority or belittle someone else’s limitations we not only set ourselves up for a fall, we also have a negative impact on others. It is great to feel like a winner, but rarely does anyone gain anything by making someone else feel like a loser. I like Colin Powell’s quote, “Control enthusiasm in the face of victories, large or small.”. Putting others down doesn’t make us any better, but it can make them bitter. Very few good things happen when we do that. On the other hand, by maintaining a positive attitude in a loss, we live to play another day. We have no hope of winning if we stop participating. When we are bad sports following a loss, not only do we tarnish the other person’s victory we also magnify our own sense of loss. In most contests there is a winner and a loser – when we are gracious no matter the outcome, everyone is successful.
The reason we bring this up is not necessarily to help us in the contests we play, rather in the relationships we develop. By supporting people when we get our way and smiling with others when we don’t, we build bridges that allow us to partner with each other as we play this game of life together.

Think About It!

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