I was speaking to a friend earlier who is in a similar position to what I was a few months ago. He’d ventured into business, made a few bad decisions and is now in serious financial trouble and looking at all the options, including bankruptcy.

In one of those uncanny moments of serendipity, I came across a post today about ‘hopeless situations‘ on one of my favourite blogs which pretty much says exactly what I would like to say to this friend of mine.

There’s a hidden benefit to the hopeless situation though. When you know you’re going to lose no matter what, you can stop playing to win, and start playing to learn instead. You surrender to the inevitability of the loss and focus on the long-term gain. Even though you must endure a short-term sting, you’ll learn some valuable lessons that will make you a better player in the long game of life.

I’m not suggesting that you sabotage yourself and hold back, thereby causing failure through inaction or lack of effort. Just realize that it’s perfectly okay to do your best and still end up with a losing outcome.

What makes a hopeless situation very stressful and worrisome is when you resist it. When you accept it and surrender to it, however, you get peace instead of stress. This is true even when the final result is death.