Winners and Losers

The common social ethos is there are winners and there are losers. Lets not only think of the mega-successful winners like Elon Musk, Will Smith, and Barack Obama, there is no doubt these guys are winners, but the scale they are winning on makes them a little hard to relate to.

The winners I am talking about are those people we all know, they just seem to have an edge, they get ahead, and they are always looking on the bright side. If they do take a wrong turn, they seem to come out alright. However you define winning, you can probably site a gifted few who seem to excel. They get the girl or guy, they get the promotions, they are good at sports, etc.

On the other hand, we all probably know some people that we might class as ‘losers’. I do not mean this in a negative way that is often used as an insult. I am referring to the people that work hard, but get tough breaks. As the term suggests they just seem to lose a lot more when it comes to the things our society has decided we should try to do well at. They get passed up for promotions, relationships fail, they may drink a little too much, might have trouble making and saving money. The tough breaks seem to hang on and cause long reaching problems.

Side note to the growing group of parents who are telling kids there are no winners and losers, it is all about the participation. I suggest you keep it real with your kids.

We all know there are winners and losers and you know that is exactly how our society operates. We all love our kids and hate to see them fail, but losing is a very important part of winning. Let them struggle a little, let them have rivals, let them be competitive and let them feel victory after adversity.

Let them learn that winning usually happens after a lot of losing. They will thank you later for teaching them the truth about winning.

 

How do Winners win?

So what is going on here? Why are some people winning more than others? It does not seem plausible that this is just some lucky coin toss. If it was that simple, statistically we would all turn out relatively even over time.

Of course, there is something else going on here.

The truth of the matter is, winners are behaving differently to the losers, winners have set mental and behavioural patterns that help get them into the winners’ cycle more often.

There are no winners or losers, there are just those that have learnt how to win and those that need to learn.

Here are some of the things winners do to win:

1. They have a vision

Winners envision a better and never accept the status quo. They are dreamers who build their future in their minds, then in reality. If you want to win more start dreaming of what winning looks like for you. More money, happy relationships, healthy body weight, successful companies etc. Realising there is a better life waiting to be lived is the start of the journey towards that life.

2. They Have Belief

Winners can see the possibilities, but they also believe these possibilities are achievable. It is like their world view is slanted to the upside. The positive outcomes of their actions seem much more likely than, the equally possible, negative outcomes. This belief in their own good fortune helps them move forward like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
They simply start more stuff and are into more things because they believe from the beginning it will go well. This can be hard particularly if you have had poor results in the past. Try looking at other people’s success in an area to reassure you that you to can do it. Try to let the past stay in the past, this is a new you who believes anything is possible.

3. Winners are very tenacious

This is a big one for me. The first two pointers are great to get you in the game, but tenacity is the winner’s rabbit in the hat.
Never ever give up. Stay in the game. The real truth is the winners more often than not are the woman or men who would not give up on their dream. They stayed the distance while others made excuses. Better Lives are built by keeping at things not giving up on them.

4. Winners experience just as many Losses

We started off thinking winners win and losers lose. In reality, winners probably have the same amount of losses, maybe even more given they are more likely to start stuff. The difference here is how winners see their losses and the effect they have on future performance. After a loss, winners say, “ Not sure what happened there, that is not like me”. “I can see what went wrong there, that will not happen again, and I will take action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

5. Do you see the mindset difference?

The loss is first rejected as foreign to them, then some consideration of what went wrong and finally there some modification in future performance.

Just take a moment to consider how you handle poor performance and how the above could help. Now if this is not how you currently think, then make a conscious effort to start thinking like this.

As Sly Stallone says, “It is not how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done.” and he would know.

6. Make your weakness your superpower

A little-known fact is Arnold Schwarzenegger started his bodybuilding career with a serious physical flaw, he had weak calf muscles and lost early competitions due to this. A lot of his early photos involved him standing in water to cover up his proportionately puny lower legs.

Of course, this could have potentially limited his world domination in bodybuilding, but what did he do? He looked into what people who had pronounced calf development did.

He stopped saying he hated training calves and started saying he loved it, he trained those puppies twice a day with enough weight on his back to cripple mortals.

Arnold’s calves became the stuff of legends and his training methods became the benchmark for future champions. So you see, your problems and barriers to success are the exact things you need to overcome to let your inner winner out.

 

Tips to Improve Weaknesses

Here are some key points to consider before working hard on a weakness

We live such varied lives that knowing when to replace yourself is a skill. This is particularly important in business but can work in other parts of life as well. Perhaps you would be better focusing on the development of your strengths, while simply replacing yourself where needed.

Winners usually have a panel of experts working for them, there simply is not enough time in the day to be the best at everything that we need to be across today, find your experts and get them helping you.

If you have to overcome it, if it is an essential part needed for success on some front and you can not replace yourself in that part, well then use the Arnold Method, dig in and make it your strength.

So there are winners and there are those of us that need to learn how to win. Winning in modern society comes in many forms, but the path to winning will never change.

Follow these simple tips when needed and best of luck on your journey. Remember Better Life Living does not just happen, it is a direct construct of playing like winners.