What Giannis Antetokounmpo Can Teach Us About Overcoming Failure

I love basketball and watching NBA is one of my favorite thing to do to unwind myself and relax.

After watching Milwaukee Bucks eliminated from the playoffs I had a chance to watch Giannis interview via Youtube.

In the interview, Giannis talked about how he viewed failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. He acknowledged that it's easy to get down on yourself after a loss, but he believed that it's important to take a step back and learn from the experience.

Upon watching the video, it reminded me of my own experience with failure when I started my first startup in the Philippines a decade ago. Despite having zero experience with setting up a company, hiring members, or creating a product from scratch, I was driven by passion and motivation to make a positive impact on the society I came from, being of mixed Japanese and Filipino heritage.

At that time, I believed that replicating a successful business model from Japan and localizing it for the Philippines would be effective. With a core team of engineers, designers, marketers, and business developers, we were able to launch the product and acquire many users who loved the concept for its entertainment and addictive qualities.

Despite having a significant user base, monetizing the product was a challenge since our revenue model was based on ads. At that time, the options for affiliate service providers in the Philippines were limited, and CPM rates were very low. Despite multiple trials and errors, we were unable to find alternative ways to monetize our user base, and after two years of struggling to secure additional funds from investors, we were forced to shut down the company due to a lack of funds.

At that point, I was filled with shame and remorse over failing my first startup, and I struggled to move on and accept my failure. It took some time for me to realize that the experience wasn't a failure after all, and the timing was not right for the business to succeed. Timing is everything, and even if we try our best, if the timing is not right, everything falls apart.

However, it was challenging to accept this lesson due to cultural expectations in Japan where taking risks and experiencing failure is not widely accepted. I was afraid of what others would think of me, which made it hard for me to move on from my failure.

My experience taught me a valuable lesson about timing, and I learned that failure is not the end. It's a learning experience that shapes us and teaches us how to handle adversity.

So what does this mean for the rest of us?

Whether we're athletes, entrepreneurs, or just regular people trying to navigate our way through life, we can all learn from Giannis' example. Failure isn't something to be feared or avoided; it's an opportunity to learn and grow. By embracing failure and using it as a tool for growth, we can achieve great things.