There’s this pithy turn-of-phrase that episodically makes its rounds across the internet, often attributed to Winston Churchill, occasionally to Abraham Lincoln, that goes like this: “Success is jumping from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

At a fundamental level, we can all draw energy from those words. We’re taught to embrace failure, to learn from it, and above all, to never be afraid of it. Who doesn’t like to hear stories of wildly successful people — from Ray Kroc to Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan to Walt Disney — failing repeatedly before achieving their immortal greatness? These stories are intended to give us all hope. If they can fail, anyone can, right? 

I’m fascinated by failure. Not so much in the failure itself, but how we talk about it, contextualize, and rationalize it. Because here’s the thing with those “failure stories” — they’re almost universally told in hindsight.

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From sweeping autobiographies to viral LinkedIn posts, you’re far more likely to read about tales of rejection and defeat after the narrator has achieved the success they so badly desired. In retelling it this way, I find the story’s most illuminating lesson is not pointed towards the reader, but back at the storyteller. While the storyteller’s text might inspire us to “embrace failure,” their subtext seems to add “… but, you know, only if you ultimately succeed, like I did.”

Reflecting on how we think about failure is timely. Half of all fantasy footballers in leagues across this country failed to advance to their postseasons last week. Perhaps it was a long time coming; perhaps it happened in the waning moments of Tuesday Night Football. Regardless, about half of the fantasy football community is no longer playing consequential games in Week 14.

And what about the other half? Failure is likely imminent. Remember, all but one of you per league will taste the sour notes of season-ending defeat in the coming weeks. And if this overt reminder makes you bristle — if you consider reading this essay “bad juju” for your week ahead — well, that’s sort of my point. The truth is that we’re only willing to talk freely about failure after it happens, at certain intervals, and in certain contexts. Our psychological relationship with the prospect of failure is far more complicated. 

In 1978, researchers Steven Berglas and Edward E. Jones published a breakthrough study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, where they coined the term “self-handicapping.” The researchers invited subjects to take difficult tests (some subjects were even given puzzles that were impossible to answer). No matter how the subject actually performed on the test, the researchers told them that they aced it. In other words, the subjects were told they were brilliant even though they probably had no earthly idea how they achieved that perfect score.

The researchers then invited the subjects to take another test, but first asked if they wanted to take either a performance-enhancing or performance-inhibiting drug. An astounding 70 percent of the subjects chose to take the performance-inhibiting drug (in truth, all drugs were placebos). 

Why would they ever request such a thing? The researchers theorized that after hearing the “results” of the first test, the subjects’ egos were inflated. Their self-images had been dramatically boosted — which in turn meant that the stakes were raised for the next test. When humans are given higher thresholds to clear, they tend to do everything they possibly can to lower expectations.

This is self-handicapping: it’s a form of impression-management by which we make choices that will prevent us from taking full responsibility for the later outcomes. We lower the bar, and we’re even willing to self-sabotage so that the resulting failure doesn’t hurt our self-esteem as badly. We don’t embrace failure. We find excuses for it, and ultimately, we cower to it. 

Self-handicapping has been observed in academia, politics, and sports — it’s pervasive in coach-speak and across athletes’ press conferences. It’s also been shown that men are more likely to self-handicap than women. And it comes in all shapes and sizes in fantasy football.

Maybe you know someone who claims not to “spend too much time” trying to win their league. Or maybe you have a league member that’s always the first one to talk up injuries or unfavorable matchups heading into their weekly game. Or perhaps you know someone who constantly believes that the rules are stacked against them. We’ve all experienced it. We’ve all done it. 

Self-handicapping feels really good at first. After all, when you’ve lowered your expectations, the full weight of failure doesn’t fall on you. But there’s a cost to this short-term ego protection; studies have shown that people who engage in behavioral self-handicapping are more likely to blame their future failures on external causes, spend less time working at difficult tasks, and have a generally lower impression of their abilities. You might feel better at first, but you’ll feel worse later. 

It’s Week 14 of the NFL season, which means it’s a fantasy football elimination game for most of you. This week, as you trade quips with your league mates on your pivotal contest, don’t jump immediately to the unfortunate injury prospects of Antonio Gibson. Don’t lament that Kyler Murray has a less-than-favorable matchup. Don’t remind everyone that you still don’t have Christian McCaffrey back in your lineup. Don’t lay the groundwork for failure in an effort to manage your self-esteem later. 

Head into the week with the confidence you can succeed, but with the understanding that you could fail. We all deal with injuries. We all experience bad luck. If you’re willing to take credit for winning, be prepared to shoulder the blame for losing. 

The stakes have never been higher, and for all you know, you might be faced with trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle this week. Accept the stakes anyway. 

Because the lesson doesn’t come from looking back at failure in some meta-narrative at the top of the mountain. 

The lesson comes from staring certain defeat in the face and embracing it. 

The lesson comes from allowing yourself to fail, and intending to try even harder the next time. 

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Whether you’re new to fantasy football or a seasoned pro, our Fantasy Football 101: Strategy Tips & Advice page is for you. You can get started with How to Manage Early-Season Injury Problems or head to more advanced strategy – like How to Effectively Assess the Quality of Your Team – to learn more.

David Giardino is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from David, check out his archive and follow him @davidgiardino.