You are a human, you make mistakes. There is a simple but effective way to deal with ALL losses, errors, mistakes, etc:

Extract the lesson, commit the lesson to memory, forgive yourself, and move forward with confidence.

When things seem perfect, Life isn’t always as good as it seems and when things seem horrible it’s usually not as bad as it seems, but somewhere in between there reality falls.

It is important that you do not repeat your mistakes, so you should note your shortcomings and downfalls. It is counterproductive to live in denial and suppression is almost never long term efficient. Recognize your flaw first and commit it to memory.

But after you recognize your mistake and commit it to memory you must, must, must forgive yourself. Successful people forgive themselves. Unsuccessful people do not.

Remember, the Good Lord put eyes in the front of your head, not the back- so you could see where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

Now I must draw a distinction here. Many successful people send the seemingly contradictory message- “never accept failure” or something similar to that.

It is important to note that these people are probably referring to not denying reality as we spoke about above. They are also telling you never to quit and to always keep moving forward and striving to get better.

To be successful, you must put mistakes behind you so you can proceed forward toward your goals. You cannot preoccupy yourself with “the last time you tried.” Many athletes and teams have made this mistake of letting another team or individual, “beat them again.”

Don’t let someone beat you twice. Don’t let a mistake cause another mistake. Recover. Forgive yourself and move forward confidently.

Do not let a mistake or loss end your effort. Do not let it hurt your confidence. Easier said than done, sure. But this is what you need to learn how to do.

Remember, successful people make more mistakes than unsuccessful people. Successful people go for it a lot. Unsuccessful people hide behind fear, excuses and past war stories.

If you’ve lost to someone you’re much better than this year and are having trouble putting it behind you, you need to seriously look into our 10-Day Confidence Crash Course.

Learn more about our 10-Day Confidence Crash Course