By David Tepera, August 2, 2023

I once listened to an interview with Michael Jordan. He was asked what he reflects on the most about his 15 years playing in the NBA.

Jordan’s reply was not about winning six championships, but about losing the other nine seasons. It was those losses that made him work harder and longer each year.

To me, sometimes it’s difficult to reach full success in team sports. Your championship goal depends on others’ work ethic and dedication. This is a reason that once I finished high school sports, my adult athletic career involved individual competition only. All outcomes of wins or losses came from my efforts alone.

Starting in my 20s, I competed in races, marathons, triathlons and martial arts. As most of you know, at the age of 55, I won my pro card in physique bodybuilding competitions.

Believe me, in all my events, I lost plenty of times. But, it was those losses that helped me realize my weaknesses. Focusing on weaknesses helped my wife Tina, son Dylan and I become champions.

Enough about me, what lessons of failure have you learned? Did you learn how to be a better partner from the previous relationship?

Did you wrong someone or did someone hurt you? Have you learned to be respectful and giving? Do you feel like it’s a chore to do things for your spouse or is it an honor?

Look at the people you’re with. Do you consider them an investment or just another bill? How about you? Are you worth the investment of your boss or spouse? The greatest gift we can give people is our time. We only have so much on this earth and giving it to others is special.

Almost everyone has failed diets. How many are on your list? What lessons did you learn from these diet programs? You keep failing diets because it’s not a permanent life change.

Diets are temporary and can only last so long. Yes, in the beginning, you lost plenty of weight. But eventually, you put all the weight back on, plus add more fat on top of less muscle.

The lesson learned from this failure is to stop going on diets. You don’t need supplements, pills or buying meals in a box. It’s simple as exercising and portion control. I don’t care if you’re eating at the grease pit. Try to eliminate the fries or switch to drinking more water. The main thing is to get your lazy butt moving or you’ll fail again.

Now, we’ve all failed multiple times in many different categories. Just remember to make those lessons the gateway to success. You got this.