Why is Adversity such a powerful motivator? (For some)

Pick up a biography of anyone worth their salt and you are likely to discover that their story is equally about failure and adversity as much as their successes. On a balance of probability, it does seem logical that if a reasonably skilled person performs anything with sufficient frequency, they are bound to create a certain number of failures for every success. But humans aren't like coins. Our successes and failures aren't events in isolation. Success can act as a steppingstone to greater ones and failures can demotivate or inhibit from performing said actions with reasonable frequency. Humans are motivated by several factors but at the most basic level, we are motivated to perform actions that bring reward (recognition, fame) and put off doing or repeating actions that cause pain (humiliation, shame). Thus, Success breeds more success and failure prevents pursuit of the action or goal.

But if you delve deeper than what simple mathematics would suggest, you might arrive at the counter-intuitive conclusion that the success of these people happened because of their failures not despite them. Afterall Nelson Mandela would not have had the perspective or be equipped for healing a nation from apartheid, had he not spent 27 years in prison. If Otto Von Bismarck had not faced the collapse of the Royalist Camp in the Prussian Legislature aged 32 he might not have had the composure and Strategic thinking to outwit his Domestic and Continental adversaries and invent his trademark brand of diplomacy that would come to be known as Realpolitik.

But these failure-driven successes are the exceptions not the norm. Simply failing at something over and over again does not equip one to eventually succeed. (If that were the case, I would be an amazing dancer / crypto trader / guitarist). What sets these individuals apart is a phenomenal awareness of the events surrounding their failures. If humans are not coins, it stands to reason that their failures / successes are not like heads / tails outcomes of a coin toss. Separating an outcome from the events surrounding the outcome is fundamental to learn from it and devise actions to eventually change the outcomes.

Perhaps nothing sums this phenomenon better than Jack Canfield's axiom Events (E) + Responses (R) = Outcomes (O)

Events(E) + Responses(R) = Outcomes(O), A simple principle to state but difficult to implement in practice

A simple enough principle to state but very few manage to apply it and reap its benefits. The difficulty comes from the inherent ambiguity in separating events and responses. How can an individual clearly attribute which factors in one's response contributed positively or negatively to the outcome? And there is no guarantee that events would occur in any way more beneficially if we do alter our responses.

An example is the Formula 1 Championship winner, Nikki Lauda. After blitzing the championship in 1975, Lauda met with a horrifying accident at the Nürburgring while defending his championship in 1976. As a result of the crash, Lauda couldn't participate in the following 2 races and even after making a courageous comeback, was beaten by James Hunt to the Championship that year. The following year Lauda returned, having fully recovered and altered his driving style Lauda won the championship again. This is a pretty simple example where Lauda was able to identify between the events that led to his failure (The Horrible Crash) and his responses, given the more favorable conditions next year he was able to triumph.

Events and Responses

But segregating between events and responses is not so straightforward. One of the best modern examples of this conundrum is the story of Liverpool Football club Manager Jurgen Klopp. After finishing his playing career at Mainz, Klopp went straight into the world of coaching, after guiding Mainz to promotion to the top tier of German football, he moved on to managing Borrusia Dortmund. Klopp was phenomenally successful at Dortmund and managed to win the German League twice, with a much smaller spend than Rivals Bayern Munich. Klopp even managed to guide his team to the final of the European Champions League, A feat unimaginable a couple of years ago. However, 36 hours before the final match, news emerged that Bayern had signed Dortmund's star striker and the scorer of their 2014 world cup winning goal: Mario Goetze. Dortmund lost to Bayern in the final and Klopp eventually moved on to Liverpool.

Klopp again revived the former English Giants and guided them to the Champions League Final where they faced European Powerhouse Real Madrid. Yet again in the final Liverpool's star striker Mohammad Salah was injured and their goalkeeper made two mistakes leading to Liverpool losing the final. At the time Klopp was considered a gifted coach but not one of the greatest. It would have been easy for Klopp to give up and assume that he might not really have what it takes to win the Trophy. In fact, many would have done. But, Klopp regrouped, signed a new Goalkeeper and the following year Liverpool found themselves back in the Finals. This time they won comfortably. Klopp's awareness of the events surrounding his two defeats and how he responded to them played a key part.

What makes some people so good at learning from failure?

They key differentiator between High Performers and others is that High Performers have an acute awareness of the differentiators between their response and the events that shaped them. This awareness is often honed over years of experience but requires introspection into not just failures but success as well. Lauda was aware from his success in 1975 that he did possess the grit and skill needed to win again provided more favorable circumstances. Lauda not only went on to win the championship once more, but he also went on to be an advisor to one of the most successful sports teams in the history of any sport.

Similarly, Klopp was aware from his triumphs in the German League and even during the Finals that his teams did possess the ability to win given more support in some areas. Amidst the gloom and negativity of his two defeats he was able to isolate where his responses should be improved and executed them.

Many people never reach the level of self-awareness possessed by Lauda or Klopp. But that is not through a lack of time or experience, but through a lack of introspection. Everyone fails at one point of their lives or another, but only those who can isolate their responses from the events that surrounded their failure go on to be successful.