This post is rated Sprinters, Olympians and Ironman.

Thomas Edison was asked how it felt to fail 10,000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb. With a light-hearted response, Edison uttered these simply yet powerful words: “I didn’t fail 10,000 times on my way to inventing the light bulb; the light bulb was a project with 10,000 steps!”

I believe that it is a genuinely accepted belief that we learn more from our loses than we do from our wins. Losses force us to reflect (that is if we have any intention on improving.) Losing is more instructive and informative than winning. Research has revealed that athletes have a greater tendency to analyze their own performances when they lose than when they win. When an athlete’s performance is scrutinized, mistakes are brought to the front of the mind for the purpose of analysis and ultimately correction.

We should never take winning for granted, we all have our bad days. Terry Bradshaw, 2 time Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame Quarterback once said “losing is the most critical element to success.” Think of the greatest athletes in the history of sports and notice what they all have in common. The most celebrated athletes of our day reached the pinnacle of their success by first losing.

Up to this point in your life, you have experienced a loss. Take a minute to visualize it. Can you remember when you were beaten to the line in the final seconds of the event? How did you react? Somewhere in the world there will always be someone stronger, faster, more naturally gifted. You may or may not face that someone in competition this year. You race to win, no doubt BUT you are going to lose along the way. Learn from it because it is dying to teach you a valuable lesson!