September 9th, 2008 Vitaly Grinblat
The finalist of the U.S. Open, Jelena Jankovich, ending up in 2nd place and getting $500,000 in prize money was infected with failure.
This was comment from the commentator about her game in 2006 when she lost over 30 games in row.
He said it was as though she was infected with failure and even considered quitting the sport.
But this girl is a fighter and a competitor which ultimately makes her a winner.
In the last two years she’s played more games than anyone else in the world, 167 I believe (I could be wrong but it’s around that number).
Working her way up from the bottom of the barrel to #2 spot in the world. At only 23 years of age, she’s already got over $5,000,000 in prize money, not counting her endorsements.
Jelena Jankovich at U.S. Open
So what’s the lesson here?
It’s a all about being mentally tough.
It is unfortunate but in our society defeat is treated like failure. Failure is such a negative word, it sounds like it’s permanent.
You know when you don’t pass an exam in school, what do you get an F, which means you’ve failed.
And so from the very early childhood and all through our school years we’re taught that failure is bad.
I know this is somewhat elementary, and I know that you know that failure is just a stepping stone. But that’s not the issue. The issue is that most people may on a logical level understand this, but on the emotional level, unconsciously they label themselves as failures.
You see all this programming that we’ve received from school about how bad this F is, is deep within our unconsciousness. And even when you begin to understand that failure is just a stepping stone, that setbacks are necessary and simply require you to correct your course, BUT on the subconscious level (which by the way dictates what you really think, feel, and how you act) you’re still a failure.
Now how do I know that? Read the rest of this entry »
