Book Review: Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn....

John Maxwell’s book Sometimes you win, Sometimes you learn taught me that you do not have to let failure be your final defeat. Maxwell explains that successful people are different from unsuccessful ones based on how they respond to failure. In the following paragraphs I will discuss what I have learned from this book. I can now say Sometimes I win, sometimes I learn.      In the first chapter, “When you’re losing, everything hurts”, a question by Robert Schuller was proposed, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you wouldn’t fail?”. After I reading that question, I put the book down, wrote the question down in my journal, and then proceeded to ponder upon it. It was definitely an inspiring question that gave me confidence. But then Maxwell had a question, “What do you learn when you fail?”. Time to wake up to reality, if you are a human being, you will fail. How you respond to failing is what will either conform you to the average individual or transform you into an extraordinary one. Use failure as an opportunity to grow and improve unlike the majority of people who will use it as a time to beat themselves down and go in reverse.      A prideful person that fails usually only has two options, remain as a failure or become humble, admit your mistake, learn from your mistake, get back on your feet, and then move on. Most successful people have had to ditch their pride and learn from their mistakes in order to be where they are at. If you want to be successful, know that you will experiences times when you are not successful. This reality is totally opposite of what most  people imagine. They see successful people as those who have never failed. This in is fact from the truth. Even famous singers, actors, and ball players have experienced low times in their careers. The ones that stand out to us are those who determines to learn and improve from their faults.      The successful individual has used problems as opportunities to learn. Bad experiences, terrible first impressions, immaturity, lack of confidence, yeah he has experienced all of that too. However, he chose to take those failures, identify the problem, then make changes that brought about improvement. Giving up or constantly repeating the same actions over and over again would have only allowed failure to slap him in the face again and again ultimately knocking him out altogether. Most of us are scared of change, thus most of us will never be successful. Only those who become determined to accept change will be successful.     Overall, I give this book a huge shoutout and encourage everyone to read it. Being teachable is hard for us and it is difficult to learn during times of failure. We have a natural tendency to push away reform. We hate the idea of being humble. Our nature explains why many of us never reach our full potential. After reading this book I am encouraged to use every opportunity I get to learn. As mentioned in the book, winning isn’t everything, learning is.