Counterpoint: Winning Does Not Make an Athlete Better
Measuring progress by wins and losses is a mistake. If an athlete is undefeated against easy competition that doesn’t make that athlete better than an athlete who has a losing record against the best competition in the nation. In fact, it’s far more likely the athlete with the losing record is superior to the undefeated athlete.
Bestselling author Seth Godin says this perfectly:
In order to improve our performance, we need to model our preparation, our effort and our form against a standard, not base it on the outcome. Because outcomes aren’t always guaranteed by our work.
Just because you won doesn’t mean you did a good job (and vice versa).
I’m not saying that winning can’t be one of the ways of measuring progress. This is just a reminder that it’s not the only way and definitely not the best way.