“There are no losers in wrestling, only winners and learners.”—Unknown
This is one of my favorite quotes from the sport of wrestling (and I am sure I have used it multiple times in my writing). It popped up on social media today, and, thus, it became inspiration for today’s post.
There are countless life lessons in wrestling, as in all sports. The notion that there are only winners and learners in wrestling is no less applicable to life. Indeed, it is very true that there are only winners and learners in life—at least these are available options. I might suppose that choosing to ignore the lessons is “losing” in life. Let’s hope that most of us choose to “learn”.
I have experienced and heard many times from wrestlers (and people who have fallen short of their pursuits) the benefits of coming up on the losing side. The lessons learned from failure can be more valuable than the rewards of victory. The greatest growth always comes from falling short of the win.
A good wrestler becomes better by wresting great wrestlers. Missed shots and mistakes are par for the sport. Few ever become great at anything without effort. Champions risk taking shots.
JohnA Passaro wrote:
“’There is an open circle.
This mantra is what my high school coaches would say to me during wrestling practice when they knew that I was physically exhausted and was about to rest for a moment. There was an open circle on the wrestling mat, and if I was interested I could get out there and do more.
‘There is an open circle.’
Meaning there is still more that you could do. Don’t rest now; this is where the difference is made. To work when you are mentally and physically exhausted gets you to the next level.
‘There is an open circle.’”
Life is that open circle. We need to step in it. We can not be content with where we are and what we are doing. We have to step into the circle where failure is quite possible. We have to accept the lessons of defeat and build off of these—learn from these.
I frequently tell my students what my friend Travis taught me: we never really learn anything until we are first completely confused by it. In other words, we need the struggle in order to learn. We must seek the challenge. We must choose to be in the position to learn. Don’t accept “easy”. Wrestle the match no one thinks you can win. Crave the struggle. Work. Learn. Grow.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!