Don’t Let Defeat Define You

My friend, Dr. Ray Pritchard, tells the story of a professor who, along with his son, went on a thousand-mile backpacking trip from British Columbia to southern California. They faced discouragement from lack of food and water, the danger of wild animals, days of rain and mud, physical exhaustion, bodily injury, loneliness, mosquitoes, and the extremes of weather.

Ray says that before the professor left on the trek, he discovered several interesting facts about people who had attempted this trip:

• Over 90% never made it.
• 50% never got started.
• 40% quit after starting.
• Only 10% finished.

After studying the 10% who succeeded, the professor came to some interesting conclusions. Understandably, the trek required strenuous training and meticulous logistical preparation. But there was something else just as vital. He discovered that those who succeeded (versus those who failed) understood the most significant block: it was mental.

Every day we face challenges in our lives. Some end in victory and others in defeat. The question is, are we willing to allow the defeats of life to define us? We hear stories of people who failed multiple times but refused to be defined by those failures. Their persistence paid off because they refused to give up. People like:

• Thomas Edison who reportedly failed several thousand times before inventing the light bulb.
• Abraham Lincoln who failed at business and nine attempts at various government offices before being elected President.
• Rosa Parks who was arrested and jailed on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. What looked like defeat actually helped change the culture of a nation.

One of my favorite quotes is by Robert Strauss; I think it should be the mindset for dealing with defeat. “It’s a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.” Too many times we give up or give in, just a little too early. If you know what you are called to do then find a way to anchor your soul in determination and persistence.

Since our ultimate victory is in the eternal, view one day of victory or defeat as temporary, not permanent!

Have you been letting defeat define you? How are you going to change?