I do a lot
of teaching in the areas of personal development, success, business, Scouting
and spiritual development. There are
many important and established principles to follow. I want people to be successful, winners and
to excel beyond their dreams. I can
promise you this, there idea I will never teach others, and that is to be a
good loser.
Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying
that I would teach people to fuss and yell and display bad behavior when they
lose. Doing that is just immaturity and
bad manners. What I am saying is - to
put it simply - not to lose. In the
words of the great Vince Lombardi, "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you
a loser."
Our society has gone through
some drastic changes over the past 50 years and they have not all been
good. We have taught our young people
not to expect too much from life. We
tell them they can no longer be anything they choose to be but only what they
are allowed to be. We teach young people
that winning is not the goal, having a good time and allowing everyone to win
is. We teach them that to be a good
loser is better than being a good winner.
It is all nonsense!
“Guts win more games than ability.”
– Bob Zuppke
(1879-1957)
Coach
I believe you were created for
greatness and that until and unless you excel and become all you can be your
life is unfulfilled. Should everyone
win? Only if they have strived, done
their best and deserve to win. Will
everyone wins? No, and that is not a bad thing. You learn from losing. You can grow and improve from losing. You gain better skills from losing. But you do not, try to be good at losing.
Scouts know to do their best.
That means they give all they have to achieve a defined goal. What is that
goal? To win. To be an achiever and to do their best. I did not say be the
best, but to do their best, which in today society will often lead to being the
best. Why? Because others do not even try anymore. Scouts learn to give all
they have. Scouts have guts.
One of the key reasons that so
many young people are depressed, misbehave and do nothing in life, is that they
have been taught that there is no reason to be their best. If everyone wins, why try to be the best? If we should all be on the same level in
life, why try to excel? We have removed
the motivation for greatness and suffered for it. It is as author C.S. Lewis said, "We
make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at
honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
Do not accept losing. When you fail, learn, grow and move on. Do not teach losing. Help young people to believe that they were
born winners and they can be everything they desire to be and more. If they don't believe it then it will not
happen. Teach them to believe it not so
they will win but because it is true.
Remember the words of Zig Ziglar, "You were born to win, but to be
a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win."
You matter! You matter to the
world and to yourself. Remember to be your
best, love God, have good manners, achieve the unknown and change your world.
Scouting Out of Uniform
is a personal blog based on the lessons learned from Scouting that relate to
personal development and success principles and is not an official site of The
Boy Scouts of America. John Patrick Hickey does not represent or speak for the
Scouting program; however, he does completely support and encourages Scouting
for both young and old. John Patrick Hickey is an author, speaker, Personal
Development Coach, and proud Scouter. To
read more from John Patrick Hickey or to get his books, training and book him
to speak to your church, business or group, visit our website at www.johnpatrickhickey.com. © 2018 John Patrick Hickey
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