To take an L has become the present-day way of saying: to accept a failure. The phrase is often used to describe receiving a bad grade, being rejected, or losing an argument.
Taking an L (loss) is the opposite of taking a W (a win).
We’re often taught that losing is a negative thing which we should strive to avoid, especially as having a competitive mindset and wanting to ‘be better’ than your peers is seen as one of the biggest driving forces to succeed.
But let’s be real, life is a lot more complex than a simple win or loss. I mean if you want to put life into the context of a game, I would say it’s a game of 10000000 days (I know longer than cricket), with one team and no referee. Where the objective is to take one tiny step forward each day, but even if you think you’ve taken a step backwards, I promise you haven’t because that’s impossible.
We need to make ‘losing’ more part of our everyday, because as clichéd as it’s become: Losing is how we learn. Being able to dissect the things we did wrong makes us avoid those mistakes in the future, no matter what the situation.
Let’s say you did fuck up. Even though I’m sure it’s not the case, but let’s imagine that this mistake you’ve made is the worst thing that any human could ever do. The embarrassment, the lack of self-awareness and the laziness or awkwardness you had at this moment was so severe that even the Dali Llama would cringe in disappointment. Even then in this situation are you just going to sit there and let it work you up, constantly bugging on your mind or are you going to accept the “L’ and face up to the consequence no matter how severe it will be, and I doubt that it’s going to be life or death, so that you can then take the necessary steps to not make that same mistake again.
Once you’ve accepted the L it’s time to work out what you wanted to achieve and what didn’t work. Take 10 minutes to write down on a piece of paper in self-reflection what you will try when you’re next in a similar situation, try a different methodology, technique and maybe it will work, maybe it won’t and that’s it. Done. That’s climbing several steps at one time. because you’re working on yourself and learning from your mistakes.
But being able to accept that fuck up or mistake is the most important part.
Maybe it means getting help, maybe it means talking it out, maybe it means watching a video, taking some notes, but don’t let that moment define you as a human!
No one knows all the answers, No one completely knows themselves, every person in the world you think as successful, has had their moments, but without the everyday shitshows, the mistakes, the embarrassing moments, you’ll never have that same moment again.
