Vince Lombardi may have said it…but my son reinforced it to me just the other day after his recent wrestling matches. In the first match he lost…in the second he won! One of the first things out of his mouth at the end of the day was that it is “far more fun winning than losing.” We can say “it’s not if you win or lose…its how you play the game” but we all know that rings hollow after you have lost in any endeavor. Unfortunately, we have stopped openly talking about winning in our society today. The effect of that is that it has taken the edge off of how we approach business, sports, and our life.
I am a big believer that if you approach your life and business with a focused goal of winning you stand a FAR better chance of winning. By not talking about winning, we subconsciously condition ourselves that “it’s ok to lose” and therefore we start to lose more than we win. That’s not a good thing if you want to make money for your shareholders, stay in business or, for that matter, make good money to buy a nice car, house or pay for the kids college tuition.
Don’t get me wrong…I am NOT advocating unethical behavior or acting like a spoiled brat when you lose. What I am advocating is that we move winning back to the forefront of our thought process and in our vocabulary. WINNING IS GOOD…WINNING IS FUN…and most important…WINNING IS SURVIVAL in a dog eat dog world. My challenge to you as we enter the new year is that you start thinking about the importance of winning in your personal and work life…and start talking OPENLY that winning is a good thing! Let’s start saying what Vince Lombardi said and my son reinforced with me the other day. “Winning isn’t everything…it’s the only thing!”
