Big McLargeHuge
2007-05-04, 08:52 AM
was just perusing the gym jones knowledge base some more, and came across the second "Failure" article and ... god damn these guys are motivating.
FAILURE 2
The Value of Failing
BY MARK TWIGHT
There’s an essay in the Knowledge section titled “Failure” and I was reminded of it recently after watching a fighter admit that, although he lost, he didn’t “feel like a loser.” Then he spouted some memorized pap about how (he was sure) others also saw him as a warrior rather than a loser. This sort of unrealistic positive self-talk is nauseating but to focus on it would divert me from the topic of failure. By deluding himself into thinking of failure as success he prevents himself from learning the lessons failure provides in such abundance.
The miracle of television editing juxtaposed his day-after self esteem repairs against his uncontrollable bawling in the ring immediately following the fight. To me, it appeared the judges’ unanimous decision against him was a total surprise, as if he had never considered defeat a possibility. Perhaps this means he had never lost (unlikely since it’s martial arts not T-Ball) thus never learned about self by confronting failure. Perhaps he had treated all previous losses as victories, using ego-preservation techniques taught to virtually all children in the country today. But to grow (and grow up) one must fail, or lose, and welcome it.
I believe it was Casteneda who wrote, “A man who makes a mistake will be considerably more prudent and useful because of his repentance.” And atonement must take the form of not only recognition and admission but of introspection, unsentimental self-analysis, and finally, self-directed change. Only then does the mistake leading to failure become useful.
Failing is the price for striving. Failing is essential to the process one undertakes to reach a position where he or she might succeed. Before achieving our goals we must learn the lessons of failure without getting in the habit of losing. And understand failure is a necessary component of self-knowledge.
My dear friend Brian Enos wrote, “Failure is good – without it we would be lazy and wouldn't motivate ourselves to change. Look at failure as an opportunity to improve. Do we sometimes fail because we are too greedy? Do we want more than we are currently able to have? Stay tough. Don’t allow greed to undermine the manifestation of our capacity, which is the product of our individual training.”
Greed –not only for wealth or material possession – often leads to failure. In the gym, lack of self-knowledge (in the moment) manifests as greed, perhaps for another rep, perhaps for an inappropriate load or performance expectation. Until the cause is recognized this sort of failure teaches no lessons but they are there to be learned: comparison, ego, energy management, self-knowledge, action according to objective, etc. These concepts may be taught by a simple as a pull-up bar or by a competitor.
The theme of Brian’s forum is “Maku Mozo,” which, translated means “Do not be Deluded”. Whether this means by circumstance, by self or both is up to you. In around 800 AD Zen Master Chih wrote, "When one makes false calculation by accepting the appearance of oneself as a being, there occurs a dichotomy of active and passive that may be called delusion." Think about this. Quietly.
Brian Enos (http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?)
Failure (http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=24)
almost kind of refreshing read in these days of feel good "no one is a loser, no one fails, everyone is equal, sensetive" bullshit
FAILURE 2
The Value of Failing
BY MARK TWIGHT
There’s an essay in the Knowledge section titled “Failure” and I was reminded of it recently after watching a fighter admit that, although he lost, he didn’t “feel like a loser.” Then he spouted some memorized pap about how (he was sure) others also saw him as a warrior rather than a loser. This sort of unrealistic positive self-talk is nauseating but to focus on it would divert me from the topic of failure. By deluding himself into thinking of failure as success he prevents himself from learning the lessons failure provides in such abundance.
The miracle of television editing juxtaposed his day-after self esteem repairs against his uncontrollable bawling in the ring immediately following the fight. To me, it appeared the judges’ unanimous decision against him was a total surprise, as if he had never considered defeat a possibility. Perhaps this means he had never lost (unlikely since it’s martial arts not T-Ball) thus never learned about self by confronting failure. Perhaps he had treated all previous losses as victories, using ego-preservation techniques taught to virtually all children in the country today. But to grow (and grow up) one must fail, or lose, and welcome it.
I believe it was Casteneda who wrote, “A man who makes a mistake will be considerably more prudent and useful because of his repentance.” And atonement must take the form of not only recognition and admission but of introspection, unsentimental self-analysis, and finally, self-directed change. Only then does the mistake leading to failure become useful.
Failing is the price for striving. Failing is essential to the process one undertakes to reach a position where he or she might succeed. Before achieving our goals we must learn the lessons of failure without getting in the habit of losing. And understand failure is a necessary component of self-knowledge.
My dear friend Brian Enos wrote, “Failure is good – without it we would be lazy and wouldn't motivate ourselves to change. Look at failure as an opportunity to improve. Do we sometimes fail because we are too greedy? Do we want more than we are currently able to have? Stay tough. Don’t allow greed to undermine the manifestation of our capacity, which is the product of our individual training.”
Greed –not only for wealth or material possession – often leads to failure. In the gym, lack of self-knowledge (in the moment) manifests as greed, perhaps for another rep, perhaps for an inappropriate load or performance expectation. Until the cause is recognized this sort of failure teaches no lessons but they are there to be learned: comparison, ego, energy management, self-knowledge, action according to objective, etc. These concepts may be taught by a simple as a pull-up bar or by a competitor.
The theme of Brian’s forum is “Maku Mozo,” which, translated means “Do not be Deluded”. Whether this means by circumstance, by self or both is up to you. In around 800 AD Zen Master Chih wrote, "When one makes false calculation by accepting the appearance of oneself as a being, there occurs a dichotomy of active and passive that may be called delusion." Think about this. Quietly.
Brian Enos (http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?)
Failure (http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=24)
almost kind of refreshing read in these days of feel good "no one is a loser, no one fails, everyone is equal, sensetive" bullshit