FAILURE - Why you fail sometimes By Tosin Imhogiemhe, a psychologist

 

Tosin Imhogiemhe, a psychologist 

In 1974, Muhammad Ali was to battle George Foreman, the new heavy weight champion.

Though Ali was experienced, he was past his prime as he was 32 and approaching retirement yet, he was up against a 24-year-old boxer who was in his prime and feared for his sheer physical dominance.

Even Ali's fans felt he would only get the beating of his life if at all he survived. Still, Ali was ready to go down the wire. Now, it happened that both fighters shared the same training facility and it was said that watching Foreman during training can be a scary sight because no boxer ever punched like he did. For instance, 15 minutes after pounding the bag, there would be a huge dent like the size of half a watermelon on it. How incredible!

Meanwhile, Ali usually trained after Foreman and what's intriguing is that each time Ali arrived and passed Foreman, he would never look at him hitting the bag. Despite the noise, Ali would just walk pass Foreman as if he didn't exist.

This was crucial because if you had to fight Foreman, you don't want to witness his punching power. On the day of reckoning, Ali eventually won the fight against the ebullient Foreman, simply because he focused on himself and had a better mental attitude.

The crux is, in life, the focal point has to be you and not others and I'd explain why.

Several years ago during my University days, I arrived late for a Statistics exam due to heavy traffic. 

As I entered the exam hall, I glanced through the papers of the students to know how far they had gone and I saw that they had written tons of pages and were rounding off.

That made me lose my composure and most of the formulas in my head dissipated. “Arriving late should have destabilized me but it didn't. What ruined my mental state was the fact that I focused on others and not myself and I ended up failing that exam.” Sometimes, you juxtapose yourself with others to inspire yourself which may be okay, but it's not always a wise thing to do.

Learn to focus on yourself while you better your best and you would retain equanimity even when challenges arise because winners focus on winning while losers focus on winners.