Hate Losing

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In order to be an elite competitor, you have to hate losing more than you love winning. Everybody has heard that phrase before and seen what those elite competitors look like in games. Max Scherzer, Lance Lynn, or Clayton Keyshawn come to the top of my mind when I think about those types. However, truly “hating to lose” is rooted in your mentality and the way you train off the field, not just how you compete between the lines.

I translate “hating to lose” as not being content with inadequacy. At its bare bones, losing comes at the cost of a lack of preparation, focus, or skill, all of which can be controlled. If you truly hate to lose, you have to hold yourself to a standard that fights any inadequacies in your skill set. Creating this standard all starts with how you train and prepare for competition. If your bat is too slow through the zone, you work on creating a more efficient bat path and you get in the weight room. If you made a few errors on backhand ground balls, you take the extra reps to regain confidence in that play. 

Holding yourself to that standard is what promotes growth and develops you into a better ballplayer. The most destructive mindset you can have after a loss is being content or letting it “roll off your shoulders.” Not only does it allow you to be satisfied with the poor habits you repeat, but it takes away from the satisfaction of truly working for a victory and overcoming a weakness. You limit yourself from reaching a goal or your true potential.

In order to promote the appropriate growth and build the mindset of hating to lose, you need to incorporate competition into training. This is how elite athletes build their competitive drive, giving them the tools to withstand high-pressure situations. You could go head-to-head with another teammate or simulate competition by holding yourself accountable for executing certain tasks. You could compete in the weight room, in taking ground balls, in a bullpen, or anywhere else. While the stakes are lower in these style competitions than in a game, you’ll build that drive and desire to impose the appropriate level of focus to avoid losing. This training will prepare you for high stake competition. 

When translating this mentality of hating losing to a game setting, it’s important to understand that winning doesn’t give you a free pass to be content. Of course, you are allowed to enjoy victories, but a win could give you the false belief that everything is perfect. Even in a victory, there are still areas that require improvement and must be recognized.

You could go 2 for 4 with a game-winning hit, but you weren’t picking up the left-handed pitcher’s slider and swinging over it. While you picked up a multi-hit game and won the game, there are still areas to improve upon. Again, you can celebrate the strong performance because there was work put in that paid off, but you have to be able to realize the weakness and have the urge to attack it.

Hating to lose is a lot more than being mad when another team beats you. It’s about having the inner drive to outwork your competition. Everything can be viewed as a win and a loss. While the best competitors don’t necessarily think of everything as winning and losing, they know how to train, eat, sleep and perform like a winner. They aren’t pleased with anything less and challenge themselves to learn from their losses. 

So my question to you is what loss have you recently experienced and what can you learn? Trust me, there is one.