Winning is not everything

The very objective of playing any game is winning. Losing always leave you disappointed, depressed and demotivated.  Startup game is no different at all.  Well, I used to believe that every time you do something you should get the desired results or it’s not worth the time and effort you spend.

Whenever we are starting something new; there is always that pressure to succeed or the idea is labeled as a bad one. But if you put things into perspective; you might get a lot of positives out of your experience. Sometimes that experiences and lessons you learned might be what you need to succeed with your next venture in a way you never thought possible.

The Experience

When I started http://www.mixdem.com , I expected it to really blow up and hopeful be one of the next success stories out of the Southern Africa region; it’s still possible but I would have to create a solid product and that I am going to do with my limited resources. It’s going to take time to build a solid product but I won’t give up. When I launched I got a lot of feedback, but little activity on the website. I even thought my idea was not good. But the fact that I got a lot of valuable feedback was enough validation of my idea. I couldn’t just quite clearly see it at the time; feedback is one step closer to making the product people want and with the right product success inevitable come.

Besides the feedback I met a lot of people and got a lot of opportunities. The experience you gain is something you can only get from trying. What should be important is the effort you put in trying to make things happen. I believe if you show the right attitude and you keep on fighting eventually one day will come when you will get your desired results.

The Story

This other day, I watched a movie; I have forgotten the name, about an American college which had lost some members of its football team in a plane crash. They had taken some time away before they could play in the league. When they finally got back into the league everyone was excited and emotional about the prospect of watching their team participate. Many felt winning was the perfect way honoring those who had perished in the crash.

The day came when they played their first league game. They lost horribly and everyone was disappointed save for the coach. Tension rose in the team. The whole town was in turmoil. The college principal‘s job was on the line. Everyone felt it was better not play than playing and losing; in their minds it was dishonoring the memories of the victims of the plane crash.

The coach was the only one who was not worried about losing. While he was addressing his players; he said something which caught my ears and attention. “Winning is not everything; but what matters most is how you play, because if you play with all your heart eventually one day you will win.”  He also convinced that if they play with all their being, it wouldn’t matter whether they lose or win; they would have honored the victims of the crash.

These words were enough to spur the team to hard earned victory which eventually put them on a winning streak. They way they played were inspirational; they looked like they were losing but fought and eventually won the game in the last seconds.

Conclusion

From the movie which is based on a true story I could clearly see that one should not be worried much about winning or being successful in your endeavor but instead should put every effort you can in making it a success. It’s better to fail with honor than just giving up easily and besides there are lot of things you can learn from the experience.