None of us like to lose a game. It’s hard to be a “good sport” in the face of a loss, but the most important reason is that you can only focus on getting better if you remain under control. Losses happen in all aspects of life, not just in sports.  They happen personally and they happen in business. Wherever and whenever they occur, losing hurts.

I recently dealt with our team in the loss of a large business account. In reflecting upon the circumstances, I reminded myself of our commitment to “Never let a customer leave because we failed to hold up our part of the deal”.  In this particular situation the work was quite good; however, the underlying relationship was not. There are plenty of “reasons” why, but the end result was lost business.  Offering “reasons” for losing doesn’t change the facts and can easily turn into “excuses”.  Losing hurts.

The only upside to losing is using the experience as an opportunity to learn.  There is something to be learned from every loss we experience.  Failure to learn the lesson offered from the experience is yet another form of loss.  In that case, you lose twice.  Losing hurts even worse.

So, if you want to get better and better, personally and professionally, it pays to learn the painful lessons and do the things that result in a better outcome next time.  There is almost always a next time.  While losing hurts, next time is an opportunity to perform better and to Win. And Winning feels very good!