I immensely enjoyed watching the Oklahoma City Thunder win the NBA Championship last year.
But, I learned more by watching them lose this year.
For the last two years the Oklahoma City Thunder have been the best team in the NBA. That ended on Saturday night when they lost to San Antonio in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.
I’ve decided the reason we need sports is because they teach us about success and failure. Every week we intentionally pit teams against each other in a zero sum game. One side will win and one will lose.
We do this because we want to be a part of success. But we also want to learn how to fail from those we admire. We want to experience failure as a part of a community that is disappointed together.
Even the most successful teams have to go through periods of failure and disappointment.
The same is true of us as individuals.
I do a lot of public speaking and I have come to loathe the part where I am introduced. I get it, the point is to communicate credibility so that people will actually listen to me when I speak.
But when I hear my bio it isn't the full story. It is just the highlights. It is a way of telling my story that sounds like an unbroken string of success.
The people who know me best know the deeper truth. For every success I’ve experienced, I can tell several stories about the setbacks that preceded it.
Simple Modern has been more successful than I could have dreamed. But the startup I helped build in the years before founding Simple Modern was a failure that lost millions of dollars.
Those kinds of stories don’t show up in newspaper articles. They should because they are essential.
Success is like a cake and you cannot bake without the ingredients of failure, difficulty and hardship. Without these challenges, It is impossible to develop the skill and perseverance needed to achieve anything worthwhile.
The Thunder failed to reach their goal this year, but as I have listened to their reactions following game 7 I have heard individuals who are:
Owning the failure
Avoiding excuses
Taking personal responsibility
Choosing to trust their teammates
Looking for ways to grow and improve
In my estimation, someone is a “winner” based on their mindset and not the scoreboard. Winners eventually win on the scoreboard because they have a mindset that makes it inevitable.
I’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat, both literally and figuratively, to the Thunder’s ascension. I’ve learned that the foundation of their success was built when they weren't winning basketball games. Because the foundation is their mindset and culture. Over the last two years they’ve experienced more success than a fan like me could reasonably hope for.
But since their season ended, I realized something surprising. I appreciate the team in defeat even more than I have in victory.
They have shown me, and many other people in this community, how winners approach failure.
Many Trump voters are deeply disappointed that he apparently abandoned America First principles like mass deportations, building the wall, draining the swamp, permanent tax relief (not temporary gimmicks), no new wars.
We no longer see a point in voting, but here's the reality:
@JustTheTweets17@aspen_lindsay The most insulting thing is they think the 10% of the population that believes their BS represents the 90% that know they’re lying. What person, law enforcement agency, or government would not want every angle of a case investigated and brought to light?
I remember watching Hannity & Colmes several years ago and wondering why it’s now not called Hannity & Graham? Of course, I’m asking for a friend.
Tucker, first and foremost anyone who has ever listened to you knows you are an honorable man who strongly values faith and family. Unfortunately, no one can rationalize with irrational people like Laura, Ben, and Mark. It’s truly like spitting in the wind. These types love to stir the pot to simply divide people groups and deep down they know it and their listeners know it.
Stay the course and as I know you will, and continue to use your voice. You are among only a very few who make sense these days. Godspeed my friend.
GRAHAM: “I’m asking South Carolina to send their sons and daughters.”
Hey, @LindseyGrahamSC—go to your district and say that out loud in a public place in front of your constituents.
Dare you.
@infolibnews Unbelievable. To literally say an armed man had “no other choice” than to shoot an unarmed woman at point blank range is unexplainably ignorant.
Watching the SOTU and regardless if one is a fan of Trump or not I am saddened by the fact our country is so divided. Dems cannot even acknowledge many wonderful things that have nothing to do with politics. I pray someday civility can be restored.
@elonmusk What a loser. Absolutely ruined CA and now wants to do the same to the country. If I had this clown’s resume I would hide my face and hope no one would recognize me.
@BradTaylorBooks@The_DCOE Your Dad is awesome. What most people don’t understand is that probably 95% of people in the US cannot do seven pull ups.
If you read this and think I’m crazy,
go try it and get back to me. 😎