Getting up after failure

We are blessed with an activity that does not take a toll on our body in a significant way.

In order to achieve greatness, you have to go through a lot of sweat and tears. You have to take a step back, after failure, and persevere. You have to win the physical aspect, the mental, and the emotional aspect.

Check out this clip of Danny Way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsqFjvZ4Mqw

He did this after breaking his neck surfing.

He was told that he would never skateboard again. And he was near suicidal. Not because his career was over, but he loved skateboarding too much to give it up.

Against all odds, he’s back on his feet today, skating.

How does this translate to yoyoing? Luckily for us, we do not go through as much physical stress on our bodies when it comes to yoyoing. However, this makes our failures and successes much more subtle.

For a yoyo player, failure is missing tricks. Every time we miss something, we end up getting annoyed. Success is when we land the trick.

For a skateboarder, failure isn’t bailing. Bailing is an opportunity to learn, and adjust your previous vectors for success. It is a normalized process that directly leads to success. Success is when we land the trick.

What if we adapted this principle for yoyoing? Say your current trick is a 3.0 hook. Instead of mindlessly whipping away, like most do, understanding the motions and breaking them down into executive motor functions, to build this “muscle memory” that people speak of would allow players to have a higher rate of success.

It is easy for us to keep going after failure. Miss a trick: get a knot, restart. However, scaling this to a broader criteria would be harder.

For example, lets take competing at a contest.

It does not take much to go on stage. You give it your all, and you flop. People are secretly making fun of you, even though you tried your best. You want to give up.

Through this embarrassment, shame, and self loathing, you choose to practice again. Your tricks are optimized, and your tricks become part of your executive motor functions. You don’t win your next contest, but you place top 5.

Our pain is not physical, it is mental. Although this may not be taken as seriously, it is just as impactful on our bodies as a physical injury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6tZ_A5jeDM

Tsubasa had broken his finger a week before this freestyle, and had to change his tricks to adjust for this.

Where am I going with this?

Our success isn’t determined by how many trophies someone won. Someone who has only won contests hasn’t found true success. True success is only found after the struggle of getting up after failure.