On the surface, winning seems to make us happy, and losing makes us sad. This is the consensus on any competition in life, whether it’s a game, a sport, an interview, or a promotion. This is what everyone feels and this is how it appears to the layman.
But when you observe closely, a lot of times, the games are too competitive, and the difference between the scores of the winner and loser is very small in comparison to their overall score. In a game of basketball, the winning team could just be one basket above, in cricket it could be one wicket or run, in competitive exams it could be just one or sometimes even half a mark, in an interview it could just be one answer. But as per the rules, there can be only one winner hence they chose only one. But if you focus only on the performance then you might see two equals or sometimes the losers could be even better performers than the winners. And, when two equals compete the game becomes more interesting and enjoyable than usual.
If you were to judge competitions only based on performance and sportsmanship, you may have to rewrite the entire history of sports and many other forms of competitions.
With this new outlook based on performance and sportsmanship, or the efforts and sincerity of the participants, the audience and fans of the teams competing can be happy for their team regardless of winning or losing as long as the team gives their best performance and honest effort.
The same can be extended to the teams or individuals competing, if they shift their focus from winning and losing to giving their best performance then they can see beyond the result of the game, enjoy the game, and feel happy regardless of the outcome.
This doesn’t mean you don’t want to win the game, it’s not an aversion to winning, but seeing with clarity what matters the most and appreciating the process equal to the outcome.
Would you want your team to perform poorly but win the game by sheer luck such as a foul by the other team? or would you rather want them to become the best performers they can be and win the game? even though the outcome is the same in both cases, in the latter you would enjoy the game better as an audience and be satisfied as it would be worth watching when a game is played well.
This is also not asking you to ignore the results and only focus on participation, No! This means you don’t get attached to the result of the game. when you get attached to winning, you get attached to the rewards of winning, the fame, money, and attention. This attachment is what causes suffering when the result is not in your favor, you feel as if you lost all of the fame, money, and attention you could get. This is an extended loss, through your imagination, the actual loss stops at the game.
The same can be extended to any competition or action in life. When you get attached to what things you will gain when the result is in your favor, you suffer from the imaginary loss of those things when the result is not in your favor.
When you shift your focus from the results to the actions you can be free from the imaginary gains or losses incurred from the results of the actions.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ २-४७Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
– Bhagavadgita
Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani
You have the right to work only but never to its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.
When you focus on honest action, and your performance, you can be happy even when after losing a game.
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