8 Steps to Cultivating Winning Habits - By Paul Wilson, Jr.

Ingredients of a Winner

Everyone wants to be associated with a winner - someone who is regarded as successful. However, just because you know a winner doesn’t automatically make you one, just like being in a garage doesn’t mean that you are now a car. There are some key criteria that qualify someone as a winner.

I define a “win” as an achievement or accomplishment and I define “winning” as on-going, successive achievements. The habit of winning occurs when a person is able to follow a specific pattern of thoughts, behaviors and actions that allows them to consistently overcome obstacles and challenges in order to achieve continual victories in their pursuits.

Talent and good ideas can get you started, but these alone are not enough to build continual, sustainable success. You must combine your talent and good ideas with discipline, diligence, passion and perseverance to succeed over the long-term.

“Perfect practice makes perfect.” (Vince Lombardi)
Winning is contagious. Each win builds momentum and can lead to others like a snowball rolling downhill. The key is figuring out how to keep winning to create success-momentum in your life. Here are some tips for developing winning habits:
1. Develop a strategic plan. “Discipline without direction is drudgery.” (Donald Whitney). Focus on the long-term goal, so you can move past short-term pain. When you have those bouts of laziness or discouragement, use your vision to get your focus back.
2. Don’t procrastinate, start now. Avoidance delays or prevents your success.
3. Embrace the inconvenient. Don’t run from difficulty. Do what others won’t so that one day you can do what others can’t.
4. Do what works. Stop doing what doesn’t work. Learn from your own and others’ mistakes.
5. Work hard behind the scenes, so you can shine brightly under the spotlight. Practicing in private allows you to perform your best in public.
6. Sharpen your skills. Don’t settle for good, when you can get better. Yesterday’s “great” may not be good enough for today.
7. Commit daily to learning, growing and challenging yourself to get better.
8. Fight to the finish line. You can’t win if you don’t finish. Don’t cheat yourself or those who will benefit from your win.

Choose to Win

Unfortunately, people can also develop the habit of losing just like they can develop the habit of winning. They get used to failure or self-sabotaging ways and begin to expect these negative patterns to continue. Although it’s sometimes hard to stay focused on winning, don't give yourself excuses or blame others for you not achieving your goals.

Successful people don’t solely rely on happenstance or good fortune for their success. They win consistently because they operate with discipline, diligence, passion, and perseverance. They take the time to develop winning habits that apply to their relationships, career and personal pursuits.

Winning is a learned behavior. You can develop the necessary habits to win repeatedly. Do whatever it takes to win!

Dream B.I.G.,
Paul Wilson, Jr.