Last week I watched an author’s webcast about his new book. Although the link here to John Maxwell’s new book is my affiliate link, the purpose of this article is not to promote the book. I’m writing this article to share some take aways I received, not only from John, but from others on the webcast.

As I watched, I learned the book,  Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn,  is about what to do when you experience loss and failure, how to learn from it. We all experience losses and failures; it’s a part of life. What we do in those situations determines where our lives will go from there.

Early in the webcast John said, “There is no success without losses and failures. Losses and failures birth qualities within us that will make us better. Developing those qualities, plus learning from the losses, will help you become successful.”

He pointed out that there’s learning in the losses; in success we just celebrate. He went on to say, concerning losses or successes, you have to “appreciate them for what they are, but you have to let them go so you can go on, so you can move forward.”

Humility

I thought it remarkable that the first chapter in the book is about humility.  John said, “Humility gives an attitude which allows us to learn from the setbacks and failures of life.” He made a great point that “[being teachable] is absolutely essential if you’re going to learn and benefit from your losses.” The whole focus of learning is to improve ourselves.

In our journey of learning and improving we need to see ourselves, not where we are today, but where we are going. We need to have hope. John said, “Hope motivates us during our failures and dark times to get back up; it’s the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Nick

One of the guests on the webcast was 31 year old Nick Vujicic. At the age of seventeen, he started his own non-profit organization called Life Without Limbs. Nick was born with a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He is a Christian who presents motivational speeches worldwide on life with a disability, on hope and on finding meaning in life.

Although I have heard of him, it was the first time I saw Nick speak. It was more than inspiring to see his attitude, confidence and joy of living life. His real story is not overcoming and accepting his physical disability, but his success in becoming a worldwide motivational speaker. His purpose is to help change lives.

John asked him to tell the folks on the webcast what we need to know to keep on keeping on so that we can finish well. Nick said, “You don’t know what you are missing out on. You do not know how to even envision your full potential until you give it a shot. And you don’t know how much joy is in that. I could never imagined the joy I am experiencing every single day in doing what I’m doing, loving what I’m doing, and seeing people’s lives change forever right in front of my eyes.

He talked about how our own fears hold us back. He said, “There’s just so much joy out there that sometimes we are the ones who are scared. And that fear of disappointment and embarrassment, we are the ones that really are standing in the way of our full potential. We just got to get out of our way.”

Humility = Teachable

Later in the webcast John talked again about humility. He said, “Whenever I see someone who has an unteachable spirit it is almost always because they lack a sense of humility and an understanding of who they are.” He shared how humility was an area in his life he really had to focus on in his early years.

Personally, for me, humility is a big deal. It is something I try to live every day, because I want to stay teachable and coachable. The opposite of humility is pride and ego, being a know it all or someone who needs no one else to tell them anything. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to hang out with egotistical people because there is really nothing I can give them.

In listening to John talk about his personal growth in the area of humility, I thought, being teachable determines if we are going to grow and improve because if you are not teachable, then you think you know it all, and you close the doors on learning and growing.

I have some more “nuggets” of what I learned from this webcast that I will share in the next post. I think there is plenty in this post that you and I can chew on and digest. And I truly believe regardless of what has happened to you in the past, you determine where your life will be tomorrow by the thoughts you think today.

Mike Verdicchio
2013

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