Day 554 - Always winning is actually losing - https://golifelog.com/posts/always-winning-is-actually-losing-1657238367178
A gem from James Clear’s newsletter today:
"If you’re always right, you’re not learning.
If you’re never failing, you’re not reaching.
The objective is to be right. The objective is to succeed.
But if you’re always winning, you’re undershooting your potential."
– James Clear
That puts a counterintuitive but so-damned-true point of view on winning and being right, isn’t it?
The key word here is “always”.
Nothing wrong with winning or being right, per se.
But if you winning 100 out of 100 times (or even 99 times out of 100), then it very likely means one thing:
The game is too easy for you. You’re not really taking risks, not really pushing yourself, not getting out of your comfort zone.
The winning thus gives a false sense of success. There’s actually little progress to be said, zero growth to be had. The worst kind of success you’d want, actually. Because it lulls you into a false sense of superiority where there’s none. It creates a mirage that you don’t actually live in.
Of course it’s not to put failure and losses on a pedestal and start giving trophies out to every loser. That’s affirmative action for the wrong reasons. Also if you’re failing 100 out of 100 times, the game is too hard for you too. You need to change the game, change who you play with, or change the rules.
The key seems to be finding the right zone of challenge versus competency.
Maybe 60:40 fails to wins? I can live with that.
Tl;dr - Always winning means you actually losing.
"If you’re always right, you’re not learning.
If you’re never failing, you’re not reaching.
The objective is to be right. The objective is to succeed.
But if you’re always winning, you’re undershooting your potential."
– James Clear
That puts a counterintuitive but so-damned-true point of view on winning and being right, isn’t it?
The key word here is “always”.
Nothing wrong with winning or being right, per se.
But if you winning 100 out of 100 times (or even 99 times out of 100), then it very likely means one thing:
The game is too easy for you. You’re not really taking risks, not really pushing yourself, not getting out of your comfort zone.
The winning thus gives a false sense of success. There’s actually little progress to be said, zero growth to be had. The worst kind of success you’d want, actually. Because it lulls you into a false sense of superiority where there’s none. It creates a mirage that you don’t actually live in.
Of course it’s not to put failure and losses on a pedestal and start giving trophies out to every loser. That’s affirmative action for the wrong reasons. Also if you’re failing 100 out of 100 times, the game is too hard for you too. You need to change the game, change who you play with, or change the rules.
The key seems to be finding the right zone of challenge versus competency.
Maybe 60:40 fails to wins? I can live with that.
Tl;dr - Always winning means you actually losing.