I hate to lose more than anything. I have interviewed hundreds of sales professionals over the years and I always ask the question of hate to lose vs love to win. To date I have never hired anyone that said they love to win more than they hate to lose.
Everybody loves to win. If you hate to lose, then I want you on my team. Surround yourself with people who desperately hate losing and you will outperform a culture of people who love to win.
High performing individuals, organizations and teams expect to win and do so frequently. The thrill of victory is gone in a flash but the agony of defeat lingers indefinitely. How you handle losing will define who you are. Are you a sore loser or gracious in defeat? Do you own the loss or blame others? Do you chalk it up to bad luck or analyze your failure?
Losing teaches us more than winning ever will. We must embrace it to get stronger, better, wiser next time at-bat. These guys know winning more than most but here’s how they feel about losing:
- “I hate to lose more than I love to win.” -Jimmy Connors
- “I’m a competitive person. I hate to lose and competition is everything. When you lose you’re easily forgotten.” -Michael Jordan
- “Above anything else, I hate to lose.” -Jackie Robinson
- “If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.” -Derek Jeter
- “You get on base, we win. You don’t, we lose. And I hate losing. I hate it. I hate losing more than I even wanna win.” -Billy Beane
- “The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car. It’s the one who refuses to lose.” -Dale Earnhardt
If you find yourself on the losing end of a deal, here are few things to consider or do:
- Post Game Analysis – What did I like about my performance and what would I have changed? Whether you win or lose it’s important to reflect on both the positive and negative of the process.
- Find out why you lost – It’s important to be genuine in your approach here. Don’t try to change their mind and be gracious.
- Plan Ahead – Make sure you learn from the loss and don’t make the same mistakes again. This is obvious but most people are stuck in their ways and adhere to the definition of insanity.
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This was a guest post written by Greg Hunter
Bacon Sports is a sports content & social media marketing agency that turns your audience into raving fans by creating fun and engaging videos, podcasts, and social media content.
