Winning in anything is not something that just happens, you must plan, work and focus on it. If you talk to any winning athlete, movie star, or business man, they will all have similar qualities and stages that they went through in order to achieve their respective successes. Let’s examine the 6 Stages of Winning that you must go through in order to achieve the success that you want in life.
1. Plan
If you don’t know where you want to go, you will never get there. It does nothing for you to show up to work everyday or go through a regular routine if you don’t know why you are doing it or what you ultimately want all of your hard work to accomplish. The fundamental building block that all successful people have is that they know what they want. Don’t be a rudderless ship being tossed and turned in the sea of life. Set your course and work towards arriving there!
2. Set Goals
When you know where you want to go or what you seek to accomplish, it is absolutely necessary to set goals. Goals are your mile markers towards your ultimate destination. If you wanted to get to California and you were driving from Florida, would you just get in your car and start driving? Of course not! You would map out your driving route and identify some goal markers along the way so that you know that you are on the right route to California. Yet, so many of us have a plan, but we never take the time to set proper goals along the way to help us get to where we want to be. There are basically three types of goals; short, medium, and long term goals. I have explained the specifics of each type of goal in a previous post: How to Effectively Set and Achieve Your Personal Goals that you can learn from and set your personal goals accordingly on your way to winning.
3. Work
I can hear the moans now! W-O-R-K, do I really have to work? Yes you do! To get anywhere in life that is worthwhile and continue winning, it will take effort and lots of hard work. When I am helping someone in my business, I let them know that it will take work in order for them to accomplish their goals and dreams, and I don’t apologize for that. To be better than average, it will require effort. Today, many people want something for nothing without having to put in any work. We have become a lottery ticket society where we want to spend a dollar and make a million. That simply will not happen. You must be willing to put in work when nobody is looking, when your name isn’t being called or recognized. It is the work behind the scenes that will help you reach your ultimate plan or goal in life. When you watch professional athletes make awesome plays, they have already made those same plays during practice! They worked hard so that during the game it is second nature for them to make the plays that we are amazed at when we are watching them on T.V. Although we all would love something for nothing, we must work our plan and plan our work; it is a part of winning!
4. Sacrifice
Another principle of winning is that you will have to sacrifice some things that you want to do now so that you can do it on your own terms and better later. For example, you may want to go on a family vacation, or build that beautiful home in the country. The question that you must ask yourself is, “Is it the right time to do it now?” If you are truly committed to achieving the plan that you have for your life, sacrificing is part of the process. You may miss birthdays, family reunions, put off having children, etc, but it is for a short period of time. I am not saying that you should alienate family or not have kids, but you must decide what are you willing to give up or put off in order to achieve your dream? When you sacrifice things, you are telling your mind and body that I am committed to achieving what I want and will not let anything get in my way! What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your dreams?
5. Practice & Persistence
Winning teams first win on the practice field before they ever play in a game. Practicing is simply doing something over and over again and getting repetitions until you get it right. The famous coach Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers, is famous for continuously having his team run the Green Bay sweep over and over and over again until they perfected it. The players hated it, but when it was game time, they were able to run it flawlessly and won many games because of that single play. Do you practice your craft the way they did? Practice is not necessarily fun, and we don’t like to make mistakes, but that is how we will get better and become a winning individual! The other part of practice is being persistent and refusing to lose. We can not always control the results of our practice, but we can control whether or not we are persistent. Being persistent is simply not quitting, and getting up after we have stumbled and fallen. It is doing that thing you need to do (work) one more time even when you have continuously failed over and over. Keep persisting and you will master your craft. Too many people give up just about the time they were going to have a breakthrough. Don’t be that guy or lady! Keep at it with a good attitude and you will achieve the goals that you have set out to accomplish.
6. Focus
So far you have figured out what you want, set your goals to achieve it, decided that you are going to work at your goals, sacrifice things you want to do now so you can do them better later, practice your craft and not give up. The final stage to winning is to focus. With all of life’s distractions, it is very easy to veer of off the road and end up in a ditch. What will keep you on the road to winning is a focus on your dream. Focus is putting your thoughts, actions, attitude, and energy into that which you want to achieve. Another term for focus would be “in the zone.” Have you ever read a good book while sitting in a coffee shop where there were people laughing, talking loud and walking by? If you are enjoying the book, you have a focus and will not be distracted. You don’t even hear what others are talking about or notice the loud laughter coming from the group at the other table. You are completely tuned into the great book that you are reading. That is the type of focus that you must have if you want to win at your plan.
Study and commit yourself to these 6 Stages of Winning. Being a winner is not easy and it will take some work and effort. If you truly want to win in life, I encourage you to engage yourself in these 6 steps and it will be well worth it. You owe it to yourself to become a winner!
If you enjoyed this post, please comment on steps that you have done to become a winner at your craft.
Our business team is always on the lookout for people who want to win in life. We offer a great opportunity to mentor and be mentored by top business people in the country. In addition, we have a great business model that can help you use these 6 Stages of Winning to make money and get your time back. If you are really serious about doing something that can benefit you and your family for years to come and create a legacy, click on the Join A Winning Team link and fill out the short form and let’s see if we can win together!
To Your Winning!
Ken Cloutier
