What would it look like to fail and learn from hardship, only to improve in the end? On Thursday, October 10, 11,000 leaders from around the world joined John Maxwell for the “Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn” webcast.

John explained: “The question is not, ‘Did you fail?’” The fact of the matter is: we all fall short in our personal lives and careers. Our failures shouldn’t hinder us; rather, they should spur on qualities that success may not.” John challenged viewers with a simple statement: “The day you start learning from your losses is the day you start growing.”

During the webcast, John gave insight into why failure makes us cringe. He explained that our losses make us emotionally stuck, a feeling we try hard to avoid. There is a tendency to freeze and wonder if the success we’ve envisioned for ourselves is out of reach. However, change begins the moment we take a step back to look in the mirror. Our failures make us who we are and give us something to offer.

Successful people’s differentiators are that they avoid repeated failures by learning as they go.

Additionally, Nick Vujicic joined Maxwell in an interview for the webcast. Living out the title of his book: “Life Without Limits,” Nick faced rejection after rejection before he began to experience success. He proves that more often than not, you have to lose before you win. Vujicic said, “We will see different things in the valley than on the mountain. It’s harder to learn in the midst of success than failure because you celebrate on the mountaintop.”

If failure weren’t a part of his story, his life would be off-balance. Nick claimed: “The moment you think you have all you need is when you hit a brick wall because you quit learning.” You can’t begin to imagine your full potential until you believe you are without limits. Nick’s life speaks volumes and encourages us to strive for our God-given dreams without the fear of making a mistake.


Later in the webcast, leaders heard from Dave Ramsey. When he hit financial rock bottom as a young father and husband at the age of 28, Ramsey thought he was a complete failure. Or was he? The problem with his business model wasn’t a compilation of bad business mistakes and financial decisions, but rather the man in the mirror. Ramsey looked at himself and said, “I’m never going back here again.” He started changing his life when he said, “I’ve had it.”

How you move through your every day life is defined by action – by making an active decision not to quit. Ramsey left us with wisdom from the book of Proverbs found in Scripture: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” His story was an inspiration for webcast viewers because it was a great example of standing on top of a pile of failures, rather than being buried by their weight.


Overall, the webcast challenged leaders and created great conversation surrounding the concept of “Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn.” Throughout the webcast, leaders engaged via social media and shared their takeaways with the hashtag #SYWSYL.

If you missed the webcast and would like to view it in full, you can find the encore here. Additionally, if you joined us on October 10 and would like to view the webcast again, you can enter your username and password you received upon registering.

To expand upon the lessons learned and discover more about winning and learning, check out John’s newest book.

As you view the encore or read the book, share your thoughts with us below, on Facebook or on Twitter using the hashtag #SYWSYL.

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