🏀The Bounce-Back Effect: Why Failure Fuels Success

Welcome to WorkLife Wednesday, where we study best-practice leadership methods & mindsets that make your WorkLife awesome.

Visit the full newsletter archive here.

Good Morning. When someone messes up during a sporting event, on a sales call, or writing a line of code, I firmly believe they’re the first person you should give more responsibility to.

In today’s newsletter:

• We’ll analyze why people who fail should be given more opportunity to succeed.

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

A BASKETBAL STORY ON FAILURE

The late, great David Stern once said, “Sports are a microcosm of society.” And he was right. You wanna understand human nature? Watch a ballgame. The art of failure, how we crack under pressure, how we bounce back. It’s all there, laid out for us in real-time.

So, I got to thinking about failure. And that led me back to a high school basketball game, a moment I’d probably rather forget but hell, those are usually the ones worth remembering.

It was early in the first quarter, maybe four minutes in, when I ran my go-to play against a zone defense, “Clemson.” Simple, effective, a guaranteed look at a clean three from the corner.

I brought the ball up the court, saw that familiar 2-3 zone formation: two up top, three spread out, one holding down the paint. A defense designed for teams that couldn’t shoot from deep. I grinned. Somewhere, somehow, their scouting had failed them, because I could shoot.

“CLEMSON! CLEMSON!” I barked, whipping the ball to the wing before sprinting baseline, curling into my sweet spot in the corner. Wide open. Perfect execution.

I let it fly.

CLANK.

Right off the side of the backboard.

Huh. Maybe their scouting wasn’t so bad after all.

Next thing I knew, coach yanked me out faster than a bad joke at a wedding. I sat. And I sat. And I sat. Long enough for my legs to stiffen, for the gym lights to feel like interrogation lamps. My butt was numb. My ego was worse.

Then, fourth quarter rolls around. Game’s tight. Coach needs a spark, so he throws me back in. Redemption time.

First trip down the floor, I go to make a move, except my legs? Yeah, they weren’t on the same page. My stiffened legged tightened up and I hit the hardwood face-first. Just straight-up ate it. We lost.

Lesson learned? Sometimes, you can get humbled real quick.

REDEMPTION INSPIRES SUCCESS

I’ve reflected on this game a lot over the last 11 years. This experience has even impacted the way I watch sports to this day. The short leash my Coach had me on ended up biting him in his own butt late in the game when my legs had gotten too stiff to play. Why give up on someone that just made a mistake?

Here are 5 good reasons you should always turn to the person your coach might

The “Oh-Crap Effect

No matter what you’ve failed at, immediately after, you get a sense of heightened awareness, or The “Oh-Crap Effect”. Mistakes activate the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the part of the brain responsible for detecting errors and adjusting behavior. When you mess up, your brain instantly recognizes it and primes itself to correct course. This means you’re more focused, more engaged, and less likely to make the same mistake again.

Loss aversion theory

Humans hate losing more than they love winning. Loss aversion theory (from behavioral economics) shows that the pain of failure is more intense than the pleasure of success. That pain fuels motivation. You see it in sports all the time—the shooter who airballs a free throw almost always locks in and nails the next one.

Cognitive Calibration (Adjusting in Real-Time)

Failure provides immediate feedback, a real-world data point about what not to do. When you fail, your brain instinctively tweaks its strategy for next time, whether it’s adjusting the angle of a jump shot, the tone of a speech, or the phrasing of a business pitch.

Increased Risk-Tolerance After a Failure

Oddly enough, failure often makes people more willing to take calculated risks. Why? Because once you've already stumbled, the fear of failure diminishes. There’s a psychological shift from “I have to be perfect” to “Let’s just go for it”, which often results in a more fluid and instinctive performance.

Momentum Theory and the Hot Hand Effect

A mistake can act as a psychological reset button, clearing distractions and forcing someone to lock in on the present moment. And if they do succeed after that failure, it can spark a positive momentum loop, success begets more success.

CONCLUSION

Mistakes aren’t the opposite of success, they’re the precondition for it. The moment after failure is when you're at your most aware, motivated, and adaptable. That’s why the best athletes, leaders, and entrepreneurs don’t fear failure, they expect it, use it, and move forward.

Fail, learn, adjust—then take the next shot.

Please share this newsletter with anyone interested in building foundational work cultures 😊😊

_{Written by Bailey Hepler}

ASK BAILEY

Yep, I’m now taking questions! Respond to this email with an office dilemma and I will include it in next week’s newsletter with my thoughts 🙂

REFERRAL PROGRAM

Thanks for readin’! As you all know, One Revere is a free publication, so we just ask that You share your referral link with a friend today to keep the Revere Family growing 📈