Embracing Victory and Loss: The Psychology of Uncontrollable Outcomes

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(Edited)

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while… you don’t do things right once in a while… you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing. ― Vince Lombardi

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"I will sail across the ocean, if nothing prevents me" - Seneca

I'm working on a new book summary. I'm reading the The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzbeber. Stoicism is a philosophy from ancient Greece and Rome that has become popular again.

Stoics embody two seemingly opposing ideas. They strive to live with arate, which means excellence. They believe being the best version of themselves moment to moment is the highest pursuit. That means they're detached from external rewards.

The quote above from Seneca is an example of how Stoics remain detached. Anyone can sail across the ocean, as long as nothing prevents them. This idea can best be explained by the example of an archer. The archers' locus of control is his technique, which he develops in practice. But once he releases an arrow he no longer has control. If fate wants a bird to fly in between the arrow and the target, he has no say in the matter.

Detachment seems reasonable at first. There are things we can't control so it doesn't make sense to want what we might not get.

This attitude seems to clash with the philosophy of winning from Vince Lombardi. Winning was everything to Vince Lombardi.

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing.

Vince Lombardi's philosophy on winning was heavily influenced by Stoicism. So how do these two opposing ideas work together?

They're actually identical. The ancient Stoics loved to use gladiators in their examples, so I'll do the same. Imagine a fighter in a training camp. The camp is three months and the fighter and his coach must do everything they can to prepare for the fight.

Fortunately, the coach is schooled in Stoicism. So he plans out every moment of the fight camp. He creates daily goals and every time they're achieved he counts them as a victory. With this strategy, his fighter achieves many small victories before he steps into the ring.

In doing this, the coach and fighter develop the habit of winning before the moment of truth. This is what Vince Lombardi did with his players. He aligned his team's goals with the requirements for victory and made sure they were achieved in a controlled environment. By the time his players stepped onto the field, they had already won thousands of times.

The victory was guaranteed as long as fate didn't get in the way.

If you follow the Stoic path and make arate your true goal, you give yourself the best chance for victory. But it matters less whether you win or not. If you give it your all and still fail you can leave the arena with pride and dignity. The superficial loss will be nothing compared to the real victory which is becoming the best version of yourself.

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23 comments
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I agree. Most times we lose openly but what the rest of the onlookers are not seeing is the winning we have within because we improved as a result of training or practicing to meet that goal. This was a worthy read. Thanks for sharing. 💕

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You're welcome. Thank you for the comment! I think when you expand your mind to notice all types of victories, it becomes like a gratitude practice. We then make room in our hearts for success.

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If you follow the Stoic path and make arate your true goal, you give yourself the best chance for victory. But it matters less whether you win or not. If you give it your all and still fail you can leave the arena with pride and dignity. The superficial loss will be nothing compared to the real victory which is becoming the best version of yourself.

This has to do with concept of planning but then you made emphasis on the fact that even when a person plans to win there is still a possibility of losing and that shouldn't make the person feel depressed because while planning to win, you should also plan to lose because nothing is ever certain.

Thanks for sharing.

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You're welcome, and thanks for reading and the comment. Take care.

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When one is going for a contest or an event similar to that, winning and losing is 50-50 (equal) because surely, the person will either win or lose. It doesn't matter if you are perfect in that area of contest because probably, there might be another person better than you are.

In the same way, winning and losing is not a bad thing at all. When you win 🏆 a contest after putting in your efforts, it's something to be proud of. If you happen to lose in the end, it will help you to practice more and also improve you greatly.

Thanks for sharing this valuable advice with us 👌🤗🤗.
#Dreemport brought me here.

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Thanks for reading and the comment!

When you win 🏆 a contest after putting in your efforts, it's something to be proud of. If you happen to lose in the end, it will help you to practice more and also improve you greatly.

Yes, the lesson is to always strive to be your best.

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In life, as long as you give your all, be satisfied with that. Being content is the only thing we need... to be happy and to accept things, even failures.

Got your post from @dreemport.

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Beautiful intro quote 👍
There's just this thin line that separates winning from losing

That was really a wonderful post bro..... Indeed we accumulate little little wins that boosts our confidence even when we don't know
Popped in via @dreemport

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Hello @ascendingorder good post on stoicism.

I believe highly in working towards the best version of yourself and not to give up if obstacles get in the way.

We are not perfect and will have bad days. It's important to keep trying if we have had an uneventful week or year.

Barb

#thriveonhive

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Happy Christmas Dear May the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ 🙏 Bring us All Favours,peace, joy and Everything Good 🙏💃🏼
Winning is really Amazing and Joyful Nice write up
Reading from @dreemport

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Ooh sorry I missed this when it was published. A positive mental attitude and great use of visualisation techniques can empower people incredibly to achieve anything that they put their minds to in this world. You just have to learn to cut out the noise (not always easy) and focus your energies and best efforts on what you truly deem to be your key priority... and if that is to the betterment of self, greater self-awareness and seeking only to become the best version of yourself... then success is almost guaranteed if the will is unwavering. Fab post 💗!LUV !ALIVE !PIZZA

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