Why Champions Fail to Repeat Winning Another Championship
When a champion starts preparing for the next event or season after winning a championship there is one thing on their mind. REPEAT.
Once you are a champion, the bar is set at being a champion. Anything less than a repeat is a failure, right? Maybe…
Yes, of course when you win once you want to win again. But this must not be on your mind as you prepare and as you compete. Winning is an outcome and focusing on that outcome is not what helps a champion become a champion. Unquestionably, the only way to become a champion is to focus on the process.
When a champion puts all of their energy on the outcome of repeating, they forget to enjoy the process. Furthermore, when one doesn’t enjoy the process, it becomes nearly impossible to invest the necessary focus and energy into maximizing each moment of preparation that one needs to win again.
Bottom line, winning the next championship must never be the focus of a champion’s attention. The focus must be on the process of getting the most out of their preparation so they can be better than they were before. As the saying goes, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. There is no staying the same.
So, circling back to the question: is anything less than a repeat championship failure for a champion?
The answer is NO if the champion did the work to continuously improve by improving their process. An outcome can’t change this fact. You may fail at becoming a repeat champion by definition, but that doesn’t make you a failure. However, on the other hand it is a failure if you neglect your process and don’t find a way to get better.