My Prospect About Winning

I wrote an article on Hub201 about winning and I've received a lot of positive comments from my readers on Hub201 and Facebook. Here's the article, feel free to comment below. 

There are two sides to everything in life, yeah? yeah… That’s what I thought you would say. Good and bad, black or white, right and wrong, etc. You see, you are almost correct, it’s only that there are other options. Let me give you a scenerio from my personal experience.

It’s almost a month now that I stopped going for my Taekwondo training. And I’ve been training for almost a year now, but I never won any fight, not Once! It’s frustrating. I’m 5.5m (it’s obvious I’m not tall). So, I stopped being embarrassed when addressed as a short man. In Taekwondo, during sparing or in a competition I participated, I faced opponent(s) who are far away taller than I am , almost all the time. I would not be able to kick their head and score higher points (as required by the rules of Taekwondo). My friend, that is the true definition of frustration. So, I literally haven’t won any fight. Many times, I thought of quitting Taekwondo. What is the essence if you will never win a fight right? Hmmmm!

I went online to share my view on Reddit with other Taekwondo fighters. Their views shocked me. In all, most of them proposed more specific techniques for a short fighter- more work out regime and speed increase. One added, “If you love the sport, it should not be about winning. ”

Now, I’m thinking, have I not learnt a thing or two about the Korean culture, language and fighting style the whole year of my Taekwondo classes? Has it been a waste? Did I not enjoy it? The energy on the mat, was it not inspiring?

So, who says it’s a rule to even win at all? Who says not accomplishing a goal temporarily is losing? Is the game of life all  about winning?

A popular singer in the United States as at 2002, Jason Thomas Mraz, once said, “You are not obligated to win. You are obligated to keep trying to the best you can do everyday. ”

Getting disqualified at an audition should not weigh you down nor make you quit. In fact, it does not define your ability nor inability. I realize people who tend to make it big in life actually did things they loved doing not because they were desperate to win, but because of the love and passion they have for what they do. If they were desperate to win, they would have given up at a point in time.

I know of many music competitions, after the winner wins the competition, we no longer hear from them. Because they were driven by the passion to win not the love they have for music and since they achieved their aim, they relaxed. Meanwhile, somebody who could not get to the final stage of the competition would outshine them in the music Industry.

Whatever you do in life, don’t be driven by the desperation to win; be driven by the passion and love you have for what you are doing because at the end, this would matter the most.

Contributor: Guobadia Jeffrey