There are numerous benefits to losing, some seen and some unseen. The most obvious benefit is being able to learn from your mistakes. When you think about losing, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Pain, of course. Losing is not fun. It’s disappointing and frustrating. Is it a wonder what people will do to win at anything? But there’s an important thing to remember: what you do when you lose is what really counts.

The Chosen Few

When you lose, you have a few choices to make:

1)     You can whine and moan about how how “lucky” your opponent was.

2)     You can feel disappointment, learn from your mistakes, and keep trudging on.

3)     You can quit.

When you’re in a Regional Qualifier or a Shonen Jump Championship and the stakes are high, the last thing you want to do is lose. You practice, practice, and practice some more, so you won’t lose as often. If you happen to lose, you probably choose one of the three above options out of habit. You should be mindful of how you have trained yourself to behave in response to losing.

Notice how each of these options does not involve any kind of hopelessly optimistic portrayal of the benefits of losing. Understanding losing is very important. Why? You get to learn a great deal about yourself.

If you are the type of player who would choose option #3, then that’s what you’ll do. Some people quit altogether when they lose. This could mean quitting the tournament, quitting the game, quitting the competitive scene, etc. Sometimes, quitting means that competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! wasn’t your thing. That doesn’t happen very often, but it’s perfectly fine.

Sometimes you’re the type of player who would choose option #1. Unfortunately, this is much too common. This is my least favorite type of player. The fault is always on some kind of intangible “force” called luck. This game does involve chance, but it’s silly to blame your poor results on just that.

Your Formula for Success (One of Them)

Obviously, it would be best to strive to be like the player in option #2. Doesn’t this person seem to turn losing into a productive exercise? Exactly. That’s the whole point. Your goal is to turn losing into something that produces results. To illustrate my point, here is a quote:

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”

                   —Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM

One of the hardest lessons I’ve ever had to learn is that there is value in losing. It’s just hard to see since it’s often wrapped up in emotions like fear, disappointment, pain, disdain, and hopelessness.

You don’t have to smile when you lose. You don’t have to particularly enjoy it either. A gracious loser is not one who laughs about losing and pretends it didn’t happen. Doing so only recycles the same problems that got you a loss in the first place. The best “loser” is the one who does the following:

1) Learns from his or her mistakes.

2) Moves on.

3) Doubles his or her rate of failure.

4) Is thankful to the victor for bestowing an important lesson.

Why Be Thankful?

If you didn’t lose in the first place, then what would you have learned? If your answer is “nothing,” then you are correct. You have only proven what you already believed. That’s a good thing, but winning too much can be self-sabotaging if you let it. This is a tough concept to explain.

If you win too much, then you tend forget the value of losing. That’s why Thomas J. Watson said to “double your rate of failure.” Even when you become ultra-successful, you’re still going to mess up. Even if you’re the big-time multi-SJC champion, you still have a great deal to learn. You won’t always win. That’s why you’ll always find the best players constantly playing each other when they can. This is also the reason why I advocate online play for testing purposes, especially for new decks. What better way to run through most of the critical mistakes in your game decisions and deck design? Plus, online games are usually two to three times faster than real-life games.

You may or may not agree. That’s okay. I just like to finish my games faster. It’s easier to say “next” when you’re online and not under any kind of environmental pressure like being in a tournament setting or in front of your opponent. Online play puts less stress on you. It might require a lot of clicks, but you’ll find that you’ll play two to three more games in the time you give yourself to play.

It’s best to find yourself a good testing partner who doesn’t like to waste time. Also, it helps tremendously to have everything set up in advance: testing time, decks, quirky ideas to try, alternative card selections, theories to test, etc.

Put It All Together Now!

You can accelerate your success in this game (or in anything, really) if you double your rate of failure. If you can finish two or three times as many games as you used to, then you can fail two or three times more often and learn valuable lessons in the process.

Geez . . . who wants to fail that many times anyway? Losing once is bad enough isn’t it?

Think of it as a fast way to learn the “big lessons” of TCG gaming. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost in this game (or other games). It certainly outweighs the amount of times that I’ve achieved major accomplishments. Here’s a little secret:

In reality, no one actually cares how many times you’ve lost. They only see the big wins.

What do you pay attention to most? When someone wins a Shonen Jump Championship, do you sit there and think, “I bet this guy or gal has lost so many times that this one win is the culmination of hours of effort and practice?”

Don’t be silly.

Too often, it goes more like, “Man, that guy or gal is so lucky. I wish I could travel to all the SJCs and win just like he or she does. He or she probably cheats by using cookie-cutter decks anyway. Every SJC is always the same. Cookie-cutters win, original decks lose.”

Final Thoughts

One simple formula for success: double your rate of failure. It can’t get any simpler than that. Playing more games + losing more = faster learning.

Don’t lose just for heck of it though. Really try to win all your games. Get them done, get moving, and measure your results. You’ll find it improves your skills a lot.

Thank you for reading. Talk to you next week.

—Bryan Camareno