What Eddie the Eagle Taught Me About Being The Kind of Loser You Need to Be in order to Succeed

Anyone who needs a moment of inspiration should go watch the movie Eddie the Eagle; a story of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of odds stacked against you. This movie is based on the life of Eddie Edwards, the British ski-jumper who participated in the 1988 Winter Olympic games in Calgary.

This character left me feeling humbled and emotional. This is not the story of an underdog who goes from being the bottom to being on top. This is a story of a kid who grew up being told he couldn’t play sports because of his knee condition, but he was possessed by the dream of becoming an Olympian so he did everything he could to become one. This is the story of never giving up, of believing in yourself when everyone else tells you that you cannot make it. If you want to start the week with a bit of inspiration, read on:

Are you willing to put in the hours?

Ever since Eddie read “Moments of Glory” he was determined to make it as an Olympian. He spent his days training for his chance to become part of the British team. As a kid he would make up mock set ups of olympic games to ‘train’ himself and woke up early in the morning before the sun even rose to begin his sessions. That is determination. Continuing with it despite all the times he fell and broke his glasses or scraped himself, that is resilience.

In order to achieve your goals, you need to be willing to put in the hours. Success does not take place overnight. Mastery of a skill takes time and you need to be consistent and patient in your practice of it even during times when it might seem like you are not progressing or failing.

What are you willing to do to get what you want?

After deciding to qualify for the ski jump team since he was rejected from the ski team, Eddie moved to another country to train with his last penny. He had to sleep in cupboards and work in a restaurant to fund his training. He went around asking the other ski jumpers for tips even when they laughed at him. He would train himself at the slopes after watching how others who were better than him did it. He picked himself up after crashing. He constantly asked an ex-olympian to train him so that he could become better.

Basically, what are you willing to give up to achieve your dreams? The cost for greatness is not a price most people are willing to pay.

Eddie crashed so hard that he had to be hospitalised but the moment he recovered, he was back on the slopes training to become better. Dreams will remain dreams until you start doing something about them. Whatever you do, just don’t stop trying to become better.

Your position doesn’t matter, your attitude does

What separated Eddie special was his unwavering spirit. As Warren Sharp said, “A true Olympian is not just about a God-given skill set. It is about not giving up no matter what. That doing your best is the only option, even if it results in failure.” When Eddie took part in the Olympics, he didn’t take the first position! But he was constantly giving his best shot every single time he was on the slopes.

You might not be the #1 in your industry, but you still have to give your best every single time you take on a project. By consistently giving your best every time, you will naturally move towards the top echelons of your industry.

Never settle for being mediocre

Bronson Peary(coach):It won’t mean anything if you sell yourself short.Do this right or don’t do it at all. You’ve got more heart, more dedication…than any of those guys out there. I mean, heck, you’re the gum on my shoe — I can’t get rid of you!

Eddie: They love me!!!

Bronson Peary:You have confirmed all my fears. You are a side show and the moment the 90 meters starts, you’ll be forgotten. Enjoy your…minute of fame.

Eddie had only wanted to jump the 70 meters slope and he had come in with his personal best score (and made a new British record) that he was proud of. But his coach had a different opinion! He knew that Eddie was only settling for bare minimum and if he had made it all the way to the Olympics then he would have to give it his all to have really achieved his moment of glory.

There is no point in doing something but not going all the way! If you have started a project then don’t settle for a mediocre result. Give it your best shot and work towards the best that you can achieve.

Eddie realised that his coach was right, he was selling himself short, and he went on to take part in the 90m jump.

Eddie: I’m not deluded. I know there are plenty of other athletes more deserving than me, so if my antics took away from their accomplishments, forgive me. … As someone [wise] said, … I love [ski jumping] very nearly as much as I love proving people wrong, which is why I’ve decided to jump the 90m. To compete in the Olympics doesn’t mean anything if you sell yourself short. I did not come to the Olympics as a novelty act and I will not be going home as one.

Get your foundations solid

When Eddie decides to do the 90 meters ski jump, he is indubitably filled with doubt. This is the slope that has people preparing your coffin while you climb the stairs towards the starting point, and the first time he would attempt to do it would be at the actual Olympics.

He looks to his coach who tells him, “you know the basics. You have done this before. Now it’s a little higher, but it’s all the same.”

This is why you need to get your foundations right. If you don’t have a good basis for whatever it is you are mastering, then each time you try to scale higher, you are more likely to fail not because you aren’t trying, but because you have no idea what you should be doing.

Mastery is what you are after. Each time you fail when you are a beginner and this is key, you learn from it, you become slightly better than before.

Failure is a mindset

Eddie succeeded in achieving his dream not because he didn’t fail along the way but in spite of the times he failed miserably. How was this possible? Along the way to his dream, he was told “you will never be Olympics material”, “it’s a world that doesn’t want to know you”, and “you’re a bit too late, young man.”

All these to Eddie were just signs that he had to keep trying to prove them wrong. That he could do it, that he was indeed Olympics material. He framed his failures as moments of him getting closer to his dream.

How do you frame your moments of failure? Do you stop trying? Do you tell yourself that perhaps this isn’t for you and that you should do something else?

Everything worth having in this life will not come easy. Failure is part of that journey and how you approach failure will determine if you will achieve your dream or not.

Eddie came in last during the Olympics, but this didn’t deter him from enjoying what he was doing in the moment!

Matti Nykänen (World #1 to Eddie): You think I’m being patronizing? No, we are like 1 and 11 on the clock, you and I. We are closer than the others…. Winning and losing doesn’t matter. We jump to free our souls.… We are the only ones with a chance to make history…. If we do less than our best with the whole world watching it will kill us inside.

This is it, isn’t it. At the end of the day, if we don’t perform up to our standards that we hold ourselves to, what are we achieving? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t number one. But did you beat your own personal record? Did you push yourself harder, faster? Did you work on the mastery of your craft? Were you better today than you were yesterday? Are you satisfied with yourself? These are the questions you will have to answer to yourself.

Are you prepared to make that jump?