10 Ways To Be An Awesome Loser
And How You Can Be At The Bottom Of It All!
Yes it’s one of those titles but it’s a satirical take on this format, though the format isn’t necessarily bad. Information about this story idea found at the end!
We’re always so concerned with being winners, win this, win that, we have infinite guides and motivational words ad nauseam on becoming winners, but how about that other extremity for a change?
How can we become losers who excel at this underrated value position? Let’s find out!
1. You can do anything!
An obvious benefit of being someone at the bottom is that you can work your way up the proverbial ladder in any niche/field of your choosing!
Maybe you’re working in one and it’s not working too well? You can try another approach or field entirely and have little to lose, lots to gain. You get a good time learning some new skills along the way, too. Bonus!
Usually, if something isn’t working, there certainly is luck and unfairness at play, a new approach might be the way to go, or many approaches! See what mistakes you can make and how you can make less of those and more of new ones.
2. Losers are humbled
So you don’t always win, maybe you’ve been on a losing streak? Well that’s perfectly reasonable and really what’s making you think that’s such a bad thing? Why is it losing anyways?
If things are not going well consider what you were losing to begin with and why winning was so important. Losing means you won’t let things get to your head, you won’t let a few small or big wins inflate your ego. You’re able to better focus on the mission ahead.
Though by all means do celebrate winning and losing, what great chance that you’ve put yourself out there to begin with! Otherwise, you’re just losing at losing and that’s something I’m not looking to win.
3. Lose until you win and lose again, you loser
So you’ve won a few, you’ve lost a few. Maybe your talk went badly, your proposal declined but your paper got published? One out of three in a long time. Don’t assume you suck at those other two and are fine at one. One success somewhere doesn’t mean that’s the only thing you rock at.
Finding an appropriate time and place for everything you do takes time and not every place will cater to what you’re putting out. Maybe what you’re doing needs to be changed up and you can get there if you’re willing to lose again.
Alternatively, if things are getting too easy for you and you’re winning a lot, consider challenging yourself, tempt loss as an option for yourself, those lines between risk and safety produce some incredible results. Play with some risk.
4. Don’t get addicted to winning
People get addicted to winning, they get addicted to their likes, comments, views, compliments, whatever, all those things are fantastic! Until your standards go up, until you’ve made an image for yourself and a loss brings you down so many bunks you can hardly get back to it.
Sure, your serotonin system is doing its job but yikes the fall hurts the higher you let yourself get. Positivity has no place for a true loser, for true losers see the win in the worst of situations but especially in the best of them!
5. Losing lately? Good!
Author, ex-navy Seal, Jocko Willink says “good” to any bad situation because it is good, it gives you moments to reconsider and find better strategies, even when you win.
If your paper sucked, good, you can make a better one. Your project was denied, you didn’t get into grad school, you didn’t get published, etc? Good, now you can make it better than before. Good, now you can readjust. Good, now you learned something and can make adjustments. Good.
After you finish any project, revisit it in a couple weeks and make it even better than it was. Spend a couple days or weeks making it incredible after you’ve finished it, after its deadline. You’ll be surprised how much better you can make things when you do it voluntarily for yourself and your team. You’ll learn a lot and quickly too.
6. Beginners’s mind, loser’s mind
You ever hear of the beginner’s mind? Simon Sinek introduced me to the concept and it’s allowing yourself to approach anything, even if you’re expertly fluent in a niche, as a beginner, full of curiosity, questions and wonderment. Willing to learn new out of old habit, always approaching things with intent to learn and improve. Best part about losing.
A loser’s mind has the same principle, as you go into your niche and your expertise increases, you begin narrowing yourself into it. A loser’s mind enables you to become disciplined and from the narrows you can open up with the same potential you had starting at the bottom of that ladder. Exciting to give yourself the chance to lose at something you thought yourself great at. Rejuvenating!
7. Fear complacency
A loser’s mind is one that is reaching up and complacency isn’t a good place for a loser. If you’re losing consistently at the same thing, the same ways, being complacent in your losses has given you nothing.
If you’re winning and become complacent with your format, your goals and progress for those quick easy wins, you lose much worse than a loser who plays with his fears. You lose excitement, challenge, and joy.
That’s where the best of your work can reveal itself. Read George Orwell’s short bio’s for examples. He’s lived some crazy things.
8. Pick your type of loser
Pick what kind of loser you want to be. You want to lie to yourself? You want to bullshit? That’s not a loser in stride and will get you nowhere.
Peter Pan was the king of the lost boys, king of the losers, a bunch of kids who didn’t take any responsibility for their actions, running away from “growing up.” Even he decided that letting time take a piece of him is better than that. Wise choice.
What kind of loser do you strive to be? One who doesn’t care, doesn’t try, is just fiddling around, or are you giving loserdom* a real try?
*noun. a person who willingly suffers to grow rather than embrace his or her excuses for an easy way out. A person who endures great suffering on behalf of their beliefs, principles, or cause: a loser to the cause of criminal complacency.
9. Choose losing voluntarily, not excuses
Tired of finding out that girl or boy you liked starting dating someone else because you did nothing? I wanted to say you waited but really you did nothing, saying you waited implies you had planned to do something about it, and how, pray tell, do you “plan” this anyways?
Don’t be ashamed of being a loser, go talk to her, ask her out, if she says yes, see where it goes, if she says no, it’s not meant to be, a solid loss and now you know for sure. No wasting time daydreaming and regretting what could be. Nobody likes that shit. Even if it goes nowhere after a couple of dates, you lost the best way possible, by at least having tried.
This applies to anyone really, I hear lots of excuses but inaction isn’t waiting, it’s choosing to not even let yourself lose. Yikes.
10. Lose the right fights
Make sure you’re losing the right fights. You might lose in your business, in your industry, you might lose in ratings, or that video under performed. Those are the fights worth losing. The fight you shouldn’t lose? Actually doing the things you want to be doing to actualize the life you want.
If you can’t bring yourself do to anything or put the right work in, you’ve lost the worst fight you could lose. Lucky for you, you can infinitely grow and go up from here. You know you have to start, or want to, you just have to figure out how. If you even try this, you’re in the right fight. It can be hard.
Once you, in your own steps, win this important fight of really giving something a shot, the real losing can begin. Who knows, maybe you’ll win and keep winning! Just be careful and don’t let it get to your head ;)
That’s my list! Thanks for reading!
This challenge comes from Chowa Sekai’s article just below. I decided to rethink the way the word loser is used and thought it was an interesting way to think about life.
Anything is perspective and mindset, pick to lose the right fights because we can’t always win but we can always lose! Nice.
Join in and try making your own if you’ve the urge! It might be sarcastic, whimsical, anything!
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