Since you watched the world cup qualifier match between Nigeria and Ghana, you too can attest that no one likes to be called a loser. Failure hurts, and can transform your life – for good or for bad. The term “loser” is loaded – especially these days.

While you might be disposed to try and avoid an “L” on your forehead at any cost, a better perspective, is to learn how to lose WELL. See ehn, failure is unavoidable, and losing is an experience that is as universal as it gets. Losing can be transformational ie. it can transform your life once you learn how to do it right.

If you don’t believe me, ask Jeff Bezos how long it took for Amazon to blow… or how many times it took Thomas Edison to create an electric bulb that works.

How you handle failure while the stakes are small goes a long way in how you react to the much rougher ride when real challenges start to mount. Don’t fret ndo, here are quick tips on how to be a good loser, a great one even;

How to be great at losing—

1. Allow yourself to be disappointed

When you were a kid, your reaction to losing would have been easy and instantaneous by maybe bursting into tears or running to mum. But now as adults, we’ve learned that these options are no longer socially acceptable. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still feel sad or angry, or don’t have the need to release those strong feelings.

It is normal to feel disappointed but what’s most important is for you to process those feelings in a healthy way — Practice mindfulness, Human commonality, and self-compassion.

A loss doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Stay growth-minded

2. Get a grip on reality, then make a clear-eyed gameplan

After a loss, it can be hard to separate the real from the imagined, to parse the stories our bruised egos are spinning from what actually happened. “Everyone blames me!” “I’ve brought shame to my ancestors!”

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Instead of being overly self-critical & beating yourself up, how about you focus on being as objective as possible. Set aside your ego to build an honest picture of the reasons for your loss to do better in the future.

3. Practice perseverance

Training your losing muscle can help a lot in the long run. 

Author and entrepreneur Jia Jiang found success through rejection.

It started with a rejection email. At the time, Jiang was the CEO of a software start-up and was in desperate need of capital. The email he received was from a potential investor saying they wouldn’t be moving forward.

“The first thought to pop up in my mind was, ‘I want to quit. I’m not made for this,” said Jiang. But then it dawned on him. “Would anyone successful feel this way? Would they want to quit right after rejection?”

Ask yourself. How important is it that I expose myself to small losses, especially when great success could come from same exposure?

4. Eat and rest well 

Buju did not release “finesse” for you to be all caught up in your head like this. Relax! That rejection mail will soon turn to congratulations! That deadline or timeline you set for yourself can always be extended! And if you broke na our business! We can’t even let that sort of L happen and that’s why we have given you Specta! With specta, you have access to up to 5 million Naira in loans to start that business afresh, take that networking trip and pay pending bills.

You are our One Customer for a reason and we promise to be there with you while you take as many L’s until you finally get that big WIN!