The BusinessDay CEO Magazine May 2017

The BusinessDay CEO, May 2017 | 33
TAKING THE STEPS REQUIRED TO REVERSE
YOUR LOSING SPREE AND SHIFTING INTO A
WINNING MENTALITY RESTORES YOUR LOST
The mentality of winning and losing – the Tyson
effect
Winning reinforces your self-confidence and
instils an inherent mythical fear in your
opponents. The whole team is energized and
ready for the next win. Losing on the other hand,
engenders a loss of confidence and a
significant level of demystification, inviting all
manner of opponents to fancy their chances at
you, as happened when the erstwhile
unbeatable heavyweight boxing champion,
Mike Tyson lost to a lowly challenger, Buster
Douglas in 1990 in Tokyo, Japan. This was
followed by a string of losses leading to a less
glorious retirement, highlighted by his biting off
the ear of an opponent, Evander Holyfield,
during a boxing match. Thus, was dimmed a
golden opportunity of going down in history as
one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.
Reversing the pattern – Leicester City FC finds
her magic
Taking the steps required to reverse your
losing spree and shifting into a winning
mentality restores your lost glory, seemingly
obliterating the past string of losses e.g.
Leicester City Football Club; after parting ways
with coach Claudio Ranieri (ironically the same
coach that propelled them to the dizzying
heights of winning the English Premier League
title last year) have suddenly become
unstoppable again; beating the better rated
Spanish side, Sevilla FC for a place in the
Quarter Finals of the UEFA Champions
League. Even as first timers, they are the only
English team still flying the British flag where
great teams such as Manchester City and
Arsenal have crashed out.
Winning is 'In spite of'; Losing is 'because of' -
the Usain Bolt determination
A loser's mentality is strongly underpinned by
a culture of excuses; finding 'very good'
reasons why you didn't make it, or why you
lost; as if this will magically convert the loss
into a win. An earful of balderdash at best.
A winner's mentality on the other hand, is
centred on 'making it' in spite of all odds. A
very good example being Usain Bolt, who not
only holds the world record for the fastest
human dead or alive, but also winning three
gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4X100m
races in three consecutive Olympics; Beijing
(2008), London (2012) and Rio (2016) – Now,
that is a winner with a strong winning
mentality.
Believe me, it is never a walk in the park. He
knew what he had to do when overconfidence
brought an embarrassing loss to his training
partner and competitor Johan Blake. Blake
beat Bolt to second place in both the 100m
and 200m at the 2012 Olympic trials in
Jamaica, and this was just about a month to
the London Olympics.
Just imagine the pressure that Bolt would
have felt. In the beginning he resorted to
excuses; he blamed the 100m loss on a poor
start, and the 200m on a poor bend. Realizing
that a golden dream was evaporating before
his eyes, he quickly faced reality in his
following statement capturing his renewed
attitude “it's all about work and just needing to
get my things together and get it right. I've got
to get in the work and figure out what I did
wrong”. And with that he got himself in shape
in time to win both events at the London
Olympics. He did work very hard and
deserved the results and his place in history
(watch the documentary on him titled 'I am
Bolt').