I’ve learned so much from playing sports especially when it comes to handling setbacks and failures.
A couple of weeks ago I popped my right calf muscle during a long training run. Â I had popped my left calf muscle about a month prior and it had finally healed.
When you’re on a long run and you hurt yourself halfway through, it means you have to walk the other half, and on this day it meant I had to walk/hobble/limp four miles back to my car.  This gave me well over an hour to think about how I was going to retire from the sport of triathlon. It was obvious to me that my body could no longer handle the rigors of triathlon training.
About five minutes into my walk and talk with myself I stood up to my most recent failure and thought, “I need to take advantage of this failure instead of letting it take advantage of me.” Â Then I thought, “I’m obviously not training correctly and I need to make some changes.”
Since that thought, I’ve made significant changes in my training and my nutrition. I’m also rehabbing both legs in a patient and steady manner…something I haven’t done in the past.
My next Triathlon is scheduled for August 6th and I will be as ready and as healthy as I’ve ever been to take on the course at Buck Creek State Park.
So what does an old man fighting through injury have to do with leadership?
The strongest leaders, whether they are leading others or simply leading themselves, are able to take advantage of failure and become better because of it.
Do you take advantage of your failures or do you allow them to take advantage of you?
Romans 5:3-5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
