Sitting at my 8 year old son's basketball game today, I realized I was having more fun than normal. I mean, I love every minute of watching he and his friends play, but up until today, they were 0-3 for the season, losing a few nail-biters, but playing well and improving each week.

Now, honestly, I never really care who wins or loses a Youth Basketball game, and I've come a long way from my days of smashing garbage cans in anger when the Michigan State Spartans would lose. But I looked up at the scoreboard and saw we were winning (by a lot), and I started to feel really happy - I mean like, not bad for the other team at all.

Of course I want my son to feel what it feels like to win a game, even blow out the other team after losing three straight, but what's really interesting to me is the social dynamic of sports and time and again, how it relates to business. For example, while some other parents and grandparents in the stands started feeling bad for the other team when we got up big, I didn't at all. Here's why...

If you look at the data for both sports and business, we all lose more than we win, thus I believe should savor and enjoy each and every win, as much as we talk about learning from our losses.

Take the NBA for example. Out of 30 NBA Franchises, 16 of them have sub-.500 (have lost more than they have won) all-time records. Even franchises that have won multiple NBA Championships like the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks have losing all-time records. In fact, only THREE NBA Franchises have won more than 55% of their games, and only ONE - the San Antonio Spurs - have won more than 60% of their games.

In business, I send out far more sales proposals that I never hear back on (losses) than those that I close (wins).

So I'm not saying get crazy obnoxious and start singing "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goooooood-bye!" when your 8 year old's team is blowing out the other team in rec league hoops, but I am saying, don't feel bad for the other team in lieu of allowing your son or daughter to feel GREAT about their win.

In sports and in business, we will all likely lose more than we win. If we want success, we will get into the mindset of learning from our losses but also cherishing our wins and learning from our wins as well.

Not being afraid to win (and WIN BIG!) is important to achieving success. But I think in BUSINESS even more so that Sports, it's super important to "PLAY AS MANY GAMES" as you can. 🙂

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Paul Hickey has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.