Friday's Thought - Half Full or Half Empty

Seahawks 43 – Broncos 8. 

What?  If you slept through the game – which would have been fairly easy to do – you would still say, What? 

Super Bowls aren’t supposed to end like that – are they?  Denver was a 2.5 point favorite and the over/under was 47.5 points.  The game was not supposed to be a blow out.  It was just that.  Enough said.  It’s happened before as well, Super Bowl XX Chicago Bears lost to NE Patriots 46 – 10 and in that game the over/under was 37.5 points. In Super Bowl XXVII, your very own Dallas Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins 52 – 17.  In this game the over/under was 44.5 points.  Wow. In this past week’s game, you had the league’s best defense square off against the league’s best offense.  We always hear that defense wins championships, but the experts chose the offense this time by favoring Denver. I think someone miscalculated the experience and confidence level of the young yet very talented Seattle team.  When asked if his team was “embarrassed” by the loss, Peyton Manning was agitated yet stayed calm. He then reminded everyone how hard the entire team had worked throughout the game and throughout the year to even be there and for that took great pride. 

The bottom line message here is that someone will always win and someone will always lose. Period. I read a very simple analogy about winners and losers the other day – “When your computer crashes you lose time but your computer repair guy makes money.” “For someone to win, someone has to lose.”

In order to ultimately win (and consistently win), you must first accept and then learn from your losses. Like the post mortem, you must review and ask yourself, "What happened?" Lao-Tzu tells us, “Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved.” Greek philosopher, Plutarch, once said, “From their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.”

Savor in your victories, but always be sure and understand your losses. Stay focused and good things will happen.  Any guesses on who was born into poverty, lost eight elections, twice failed in business and even suffered a nervous breakdown along the way, but still became a household name?  The answer is at the end of the next paragraph and it may very well surprise you! Whether you are an athlete, a politician, an investor or just an average Joe, bad stuff will happen as will the good.  Do you take advantage of adversity creating new found opportunity?  Do you view the galas as half full and not half empty? 

Did you enjoy your last victory – whether it be in business or life? Do you understand the next event may not have the same result? With this in mind, always keep a positive attitude in victory OR in defeat. As someone once said, “You can’t win them all.” To quote Thomas Jefferson, “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”  Abraham Lincoln had the right mental attitude, you see he is the one I referenced above!

Don’t let a loss beat or drag you down. It happens. For Peyton Manning and the Broncos there is always next year and this year, regardless of the score, they were one of two teams left standing for the very last championship game. For politicians, if they so desire, there is the next election (remember Abe had 8 losses?) For investors on Wall Street, at the closing bell there is a tomorrow. For me personally there is just another shot at life in general – and that comes to me every single day!

Is your glass half full or is it half empty? That perception is entirely up to you!

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties”

– Harry Truman 33^rd President

Thanks Lee for another great article