Exclusive Insight: Nick Saban’s key for converting loss into triumph

Nick Saban reminds his ESPN Gameday cohosts one key is needed to recover from a loss.

This distinguishes national champions from everyone else.

How champions overcome loss
Nick Saban preaches daily discipline on ESPN Gameday/Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

After Vanderbilt upset Alabama 40-35 on Saturday, October 5, 2024, Saban’s ESPN co-host asked how a coach helps his team deal with a loss like that.

Saban said, “Everyone suffers one of two pains. Which one will you choose? Will you choose the pain of daily discipline in preparation and practice? Or will you choose the pain of disappointment for the rest of your life?”

Saban’s formula motivated his Alabama teams to win many national championships.

Here’s how Nick’s formula works for the rest of us.

1. See your loss as the next step

The same way Sam Walton did.

He embraced creativity in the middle of every crisis.

At 27, Sam opened his first store.  Five years later, he tripled revenue.

Sam Walton overcame loss
Sam Walton’s first store in Newport, Arkansas 1945-1949

But his lease wasn’t renewed.

Unable to relocate, Walton was forced to sell.  He thought he lost it all.

Instead of panicking, he takes the next step with a new decision.

“Ultimately, it’s our decisions, not the condition of our life, that determine our destiny.”  Anthony Robbins

Sam opens a different kind of variety store 275 miles away.

At his lowest point, he creates success by. . .

  • locating in a small town closer to regional warehouses
  • lowering prices with a self-service model

Years later, at age 44, Walton started Walmart, which made him a billionaire.

Make your low point go higher with a creative decision.

2. Fail forward, not backward

James Dyson learned the daily discipline of failing forward, not backward.

No one had ever designed a bagless vacuum cleaner.

Manufacturers stayed inside the boundaries.

But Dyson worked daily looking for a better vacuum cleaner.

So, he labored for 15 years and went through 5,000 prototypes.

“Fail fast and fail often.”  Charles Lamprey

Dyson hit paydirt in 1995 and saw his vacuum cleaner go big in British stores.

Excellence and creative failure
Inventors like James Dyson use failure as an everyday tool.

Sam Dyson is a billionaire today.  Daily discipline ushered him there.

3. Make your loss a screenplay for triumph

Shuffled between foster homes, Sylvester Stallone was a troubled kid.

Nobody thought he would last.

Dreaming to be a Hollywood actor, writer or director, Stallone. . .

  • cleaned lion cages at a zoo
  • ushered at a movie house
  • did bit parts in B movies

In 1975, he hit bottom with less than $200, a pregnant wife, and unable to pay rent.

He decided to write a screenplay about a loser like himself.

When shopping the script, he counts no less than 1500 rejections.

But he wouldn’t compromise the story.

From loss to triumph

Finally, United Artists listened to Stallone, and Rocky bore a budget of $1,000,000 with 28 days to finish.

Even though the movie opened with a whimper, Rocky. . .

  • won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1977
  • became one of the most successful movie franchises, grossing $1 billion

Why do so many watch Rocky sequels chanting “Rocky, Rocky, Rocky?”

Because it’s our story, too.

Getting knocked down is a crushing blow from the real world.

But as long as we embrace daily discipline and consider the possibilities inside our crisis, the fight is never lost.

“I have fought the good fight.  I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me.”  2 Timothy 4: 7-8

How has daily discipline worked for you?

Exclusive Insight: Nick Saban’s key for converting loss into triumph

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