Quit Your Belly Achin'

I also acted pretty childish afterwards, making all sorts of excuses for my failure, even though I had actually done pretty well. My girlfriend pointed out how immature I was being, and I shut my mouth, but the damage had been done. Once you do something, it is done and out in the world.

Later, it occurred to me that the real test of my character wasn't how well I did during the workout. I had been training all year and my performance was pretty much set at that point. Nothing I could do would change how well I did. The only thing I had any real control over at that point was how I behaved during and after. And having done poorly on a workout, I thought that I'd failed because I didn't do as many reps as I wanted. I didn't realize that I'd failed instead because I acted childish afterwards.

Our character is judged when it is at its lowest. This is an unfortunate reality. People may enjoy your company when you're happy, but they don't ascribe a great deal of integrity to your character unless you can remain upbeat when others might be down.

Of course, disappointment is okay. Just don't overdo it. Look sad, and then get ready to move on. Nothing is gained by dwelling on failure.

Excuses are not okay. Explanations of why you didn't do as well as you would have liked may be true, but a) nobody cares, and b) they don't change how you actually did do. So, if people ask, offer an explanation, but don't volunteer excuses.

Of course, if you do mess up and curse your head off, providing all sorts of excuses and whining like a baby, it doesn't do any good to dwell on that particular failure either. Forgive yourself and move on.

Thank you for reading! If you found this post inspiring, please e-mail it to a few friends, or share it on Twitter.

Fight on, Brave Warriors!
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