FAILURE SUCKS. BY ADAM YACEK
What I’ve learned from playing baseball for 18 years is that failure sucks, BUT it can be a powerful tool to learn from. There’s a common saying in baseball that goes something like this: “Baseball is the only sport where you can succeed three times out of ten and be considered great”. In other words, you can fail 70% of the time yet still be great!
As a result, in order to be a collegiate baseball player I’ve had to learn to deal with failure. I am in no way great at dealing with failure yet, but I have learned some important things about using failure to help better yourself.
For me personally, dealing with failure occurs in three stages. First you have to try to identify why you failed. Then you must identify what you can learn from it! (For example, maybe you didn’t prepare enough, or you weren’t focused, etc.). Last but not least, you must have a positive mentality and outlook to overcome failure (you can’t let it drag you down).
All of these are very simple steps that can go a long way. At some point everyone experiences failure, but the true test is how you respond to it! You can either let it destroy you, or learn and grow from it. The only person who can control its effect is you.
