Ep. 9 - The importance of winning

There's no better feeling than winning. A quote by Ed Mylett sums up how I feel about winning perfectly.

“Winning is more fun, than fun is fun”.

This one hits home and I couldn’t agree more.

Winning is to some extent innate. Some people are born with a desire to compete and win at all costs (in a fair, and ethical way). But it’s also something that can be cultivated, and a characteristic that I think is crucial to the success of any entrepreneur. They must love to win and love to compete.

Without it, the early mornings and late nights will not happen. Battling through those painful moments will not happen. Bouncing back from setbacks will not happen. The desire to win gets you through this.

So for this week I decided to put together three points as to why winning is a catalyst for entrepreneurship and also debunk the notion that winning is negative, or rather, competition is negative.

No Shame in Winning

To put it bluntly, when people assume winning or competition is negative, it’s usually because they’ve never won before. And trust me, once they get a taste, they’d never turn back. People usually associate winning with boasting and general douche-baggery. But this isn’t the case, if you respect the game you’re playing and the opponent you’re facing, then winning (and losing) will always be done respectfully. And there's no shame in that.

Here are three reasons why I believe cultivating the winners mindset is crucial for any entrepreneur.

1. Winning creates humility. If you’ve won anything before, then you’ve also probably lost A LOT. That’s how it works. You’ll always have more losses than wins. The goal is to minimize the magnitude of the losses, and maximize the magnitude of the wins. This creates exceptional humility. You become antifragile through this practice of winning and losing. You learn how to deal with major set-backs and failures. These characteristics allow you to push through the uncertainty and continue chasing your dream.
2. Winning creates an expectation. This is a funny one. If I’m playing a sport that I’m average at, or not very good at, I still expect to, and want to, win. When all odds are against me, or when I’m losing badly, that is when I thrive most. I love that feeling of having my back up against the wall and I ALWAYS expect to win. This expectation allows me to enter any competition putting my best effort forward. It allows me to work through the uncertainty.
3. Winning has no loyalty. The fact it has no loyalty, and doesn’t care how hard you’ve worked, or the resume you’ve accumulated just fuels the fire. It creates a work ethic that is relentless. And it also creates a sense of ‘why not me’? Why can’t I write that book? Why can’t I start that company? Start thinking of winning through this lens of why not me?

The art of winning can be developed. Start with trying to win everyday. Accumulating and compounding small wins will get you to a breakthrough eventually. It happened with my firm, Elevate Financial. I sent 20 emails everyday when I first started. No results for two months, only a few replies (which were ‘no thank you'). Then, seemingly 'overnight' I had clients knocking on my door. From the outside looking in it would have appeared rapid and 'easy'. But it wasn't - at all. I had numerous rejections, but my goal was to just send those emails and trust the process. So, I was actually winning everyday, even though it could have easily been viewed as a loss.  

And I still do the work everyday because I know winning isn’t loyal, and I know it can be ripped away at any moment. That's why I love it. Remember, just win the day, and the big one will come.