The Undeniable Power Of Loss

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“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.” – Tyler Durden

Have you ever lost something? Anything? No matter how small it is.

It could be  an opportunity for a promotion, a sale, or a guest blog submission.

You have?

Good.

Don’t worry. It means you’re on to something. Something bigger than yourself.

Tyler Durden might be a fictional character, but Chuck Palahniuk must have been struck with genius when he wrote Fight Club.

Chuck lost a lot when he was still a kid. He lost the privilege of having a good childhood when his parents left him and his siblings. When he started writing, his first pieces of work didn’t make it through right away. He had to lose again.

Publishers didn’t like his book, Invisible Monsters because it was too disturbing for their tastes. But Chuck never gave up his style. He went on to write Fight Club, a story meant to be even more disturbing to sort of go against the publishers who shunned him.

Fight Club has since then been made a movie, and has sold millions. He continues to write even more disturbing content. This has become his style. His voice. His ultimate success.

 

This is the part where you throw up

When you lose something important, two things can happen.

1. Forget what you’re doing. This is not going to work out anyway. There are more important things to do with your time. This all is just a waste of money.
2. You throw up, because it hurts. It’s disgusting. But you stand your ground. You keep on trudging onward. You write even more disturbing content. Because this is what you want to do. This is your ultimate success.

If you choose the first one, who knows? Maybe you’ll find your destiny. Try fishing one day, and then you’ll end up having your own show on the Discovery Channel. But you’re putting so much of your life on chance. Something you can’t control.

And the fact is, if you keep on quitting and running away, you’re going to be doing that for the rest of your life.

If you choose the second one, it shows the world that this is what you want to do. Whether you’re good at it or not. The thing is, there’s always room for improvement.

Failed a copy? Guest post submission didn’t work out so well?

Good.

Keep going at it. Learn from your mistakes, but don’t ever falter. Don’t settle.

Keep writing disturbing content. This is the part where you throw up.

 

What’s so good about losing?

You’re bound to lose something along the way.

Maybe your boss will turn you down for a promotion a couple of times. The girl of your dreams might just dump you even before you get the balls to talk to her.

The secret is to keep going at it.

You see, loss either makes or breaks you. It can make you stronger beyond you’re wildest dreams. It all depends on how you react to it.

Turn all that negative energy of losing something into one big ball of kinetic energy just waiting to be unleashed.

Whether you’re struggling with your blog, or you’ve been failing a couple dozen times trying to cook that perfect Beef Wellington, or you’re pushing to write a book worthy of being turned into a Hollywood movie.

Turn your loss into a gain. Write a better copy. Get your guest post on Problogger. Get better.

 

Your #1 fan is waiting

Guy Kawasaki said you should keep on doing what you love. No one might be listening to you right now, but somewhere in this world waits a lonelyboy15.

He’s that kid. He could be a football varsity star. A school mascot. Heck, he could even be the school janitor.

But this lonelyboy15 will fall in love with your “disturbing content” and share it with his friends. Then the snowball effect begins.

Chuck Palahniuk also had his lonelyboy15. His name is Robert Paulson Edward Hibbert.

If you keep going at it, eventually you’ll find your lonelyboy15. It could also be the other way around.

The trick is to never take a step back when doing something that you love. Despite the possibility of  loss.

 

Realize how much you’ve lost

You need to experience loss to make you stronger as a blogger.

The first step is to realize what you’ve been doing wrong, and that you need to correct that. Right now.

Did you lose several sales pitches? Great. Now you know what doesn’t work, and you can build on it.

Did Derek Halpern tell you personally that your blog design is losing you a bunch of customers? Great. Fix that.

 

So here’s the plan

When something bad happens and all hell breaks loose, count your losses.

How much did you lose along the way? A lot?

Then that means you have no reason to quit now. Don’t ever settle and let all that loss go to waste.

Turn that into fuel that drives you to become something bigger than yourself. Keep running.

 

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