As we approach the mid-point of the year, you may feel like you’ve not accomplished all that you hoped. In fact, you may feel like you lost more battles than you’ve won.
You may even be asking, somewhat desperately, “What do I need to do to start winning again?!”
If that describes you, let me share a quick story with you.
The Key to Winning is to Stop Losing
Notre Dame hired Brian Kelly in 2009 as the head coach of the football team. The Fighting Irish football team had been in decline for years, and Kelly’s mandate was clear, “turn the team around and do it quickly.”
In his first press conference after being hired, a reporter asked Kelly, “Coach, how are you going to get Notre Dame winning again?”
“Well,” Kelly said, “before we can start winning, we have to stop losing!” The reporters laughed, as Kelly continued, explaining,
“In order to stop losing, we first have to stop doing all the things that undermine our success. When our players have bad eating habits, don’t give their best in practice, show up late for team meetings, don’t listen to coaches, get lax on personal discipline, don’t do their classwork, or don’t encourage their teammates—we lose. Before we can start winning, we have to stop doing all the things that cause us to lose. Then we can start winning.”
Every one of the things Coach Kelly identified that cause the team to lose is a matter of personal character. Think about it. An athlete that doesn’t take their nutrition seriously, doesn’t give it their all, shows up late, doesn’t listen to coaches, doesn’t complete their work, and doesn’t even encourage their teammates is not setting themselves up for success!
No! What they are doing is setting themselves up to lose!
To start winning, you have to stop undermining your success. You have to stop doing all the things that cause you to lose!
Athletes who win watch their diets carefully, give 110% in practice, listen to advice from their coaches, keep their work commitments, and they encourage their teammates!
Why? Because their focus is on establishing the habits and practices that will make them the best they can be. They do all the little everyday things that it takes to win!
Being successful as a leader in the business world is no different. To start winning, we have to stop losing.
How to Start Winning
As Coach Kelly said, the key to winning is to stop losing; to stop doing all the things that undermine your success.
So, I decided it’s time to take a hard look in the mirror and consider what I am doing that undermines my success. As I conducted this self-inventory of habits, I put them into three big buckets: personal, vocational, and spiritual.
Personal
My personal habits bucket includes a hard look at things like:
- Am I eating well-balanced, healthy meals, or am I raiding the carbohydrate cupboard late at night?
- Am I getting enough exercise, or am I spending my days sitting in a chair, never getting outside?
- Am I getting enough sleep, and am I really taking a day off?
- Am I creating and executing a disciplined plan of activities, or am I easily distracted by low priority tasks?
Vocational
My vocational habits list included everything that impacts my vision of God’s purpose for my life:
- Am I clear on my life vision and God’s purpose for my life at this time?
- Am I clear on my short and long-term goals?
- Am I focused on doing the most important work that will move me closer to achieving my vision?
- Am I sharpening the skills I already have and building new skills needed to meet future needs?
Spiritual
My spiritual habits list included everything I could think of that related to some aspect of soul care:
- Bible Study. Am I reading and studying the Bible every day, not just to check it off the list, but really trying to absorb what God has for me?
- Am I spending quality time in prayer, confessing my shortcomings? Am I giving thanks for the many blessings in my life?
- Am I learning God’s Word from reliable Bible teachers (sermons on-line these days, church service in-person when we are allowed)?
- Am I careful about what I allow into my mind (television, news, social media, etc.)?
These twelve items comprised the bulk of my personal habits inventory. I felt that all of them had the potential to undermine my success and cause me to lose, to fall short of God’s best for my life. In the final analysis, I did pretty well on some and fell dismally short on others. So, I have some work to do to stop doing things that cause me to lose so I can start winning.
Before I go and leave you to reflect on your own personal habits inventory, let me offer you some words of wisdom from the Apostle Paul,
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).
Train yourself to run the race to win!
More Articles
I have written several articles on self-discipline. You can find them by typing “self-discipline” in the search bar. In the meantime, here are four of my favorites.
- #361: What Can You Do If the Battle is Unavoidable?
- #290: Are There Consequences for Living Any Way You Want?
- #281: How to Avoid the Dark Side of Happiness
- #132: Roadblocks—12 Impediments to Success
Join the Conversation
As always, questions and comments are welcome. What do you need to do to stop losing so you can start winning??
I’d love your help. This blog is read primarily because of people like you who share it with friends. Would you be kind enough to share it by pressing the share button?
Category: Personal Development | Self-Discipline
It’s the “easily distracted by low priority tasks” that I have to watch out for. One minute I can be writing an article and researching, then the next I get distracted with something online, and before I know it 30 minutes is gone!
I totally understand! It is sooo easy to be distracted by all the diversions – they just don’t get us any closer to getting the important stuff done!