Do You Act Like a Winner?
written by John Chow
This post was guest blogged by Alan Johnson from The Rating Blog, where you can win prizes by helping those in need.
After I’ve explained how most people don’t actually think like winners (even if they don’t admit it) with my last guest post, it’s time to suggest a question to those of you who actually have a winner’s way of thinking: do you act like a winner as well?
Sure, thinking like a winner and proving that with the goals you set for yourself and for your business is an important first step, but how many of you actually take things to the next level?
Quitters Never Win & Winners Never Quit
The main difference between winners and losers is the fact that winners don’t quit when things get rough. Did you expect everything to be smooth sailing? Sorry to burst your bubble there, but things don’t exactly stand this way in the real world. If things were that easy, everyone would be rich and that would go against the very meaning of the term.
There will be times when you’ll be tempted to give up and there will be times when your goals may appear to be so out of reach that quitting seems like your only option. Your reaction in such cases will make or break you as an online entrepreneur.
It’s Not My Fault!
Most people choose the easy way out and blame everything on other factors: their business partners, the market, society, you name it. They live in denial, don’t assume responsibility for their actions and such an attitude makes learning from mistakes impossible.
Winners, on the other hand, treat the loss of a battle as a learning opportunity which will help them win the war. Instead of quitting and blaming everyone else but themselves, they continue to give it 110%, knowing that, when it seems that there is no hope, success is just around the corner.
You Have To Fail In Order To Win
You will, at one point or another, inevitably fail and thinking otherwise is just plain foolish on your part. Reaction to failure makes the difference between winners and losers. Never make the mistake of letting fear of failure get the best of you and keep you from trying in the first place, trying and failing is always better than not doing anything at all.
Ironically enough, winners are people who know how to lose and losers are the ones who think that they are somehow above failure. And what happens if you have such an attitude? You will be caught off-guard when losing and will not be able to handle the situation.
It Always Looks Good On Paper
You may think like a winner and you may set high goals, but do you really practice what you preach? Most of the times, things look far better on paper than they really are, do you have what it takes to keep going even when things seem to be getting out of hand? You can’t succeed if you don’t get your hands dirty, and at some point, planning has to stop and action needs to take its place. Do you want to continue living in that fantasy world of yours or are you willing to wake up and smell the roses? Everything is entirely up to you.
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Interesting post here, very true in many ways.
MOOOOOOoOOO !! It’s TRUUUUUEEEE!
(inside joke from previous post)
Sorry, just had to
“Quitters Never Win & Winners Never Quit” that’s so true
what if you win then quit? therefore quitters win?
As an online entrepreneur, winning is all about the journey, not a destination, so that being a winner actually comes as a result of being on the right track, not reaching a certain destination
Alan Johnson
Nice post, being persistent will get your far!
“You Have To Fail In Order To Win” - that is just a gem. I have made a post regarding this on my blog too, and the important part is that once you have failed, how quickly do you dust yourself off and get back in the game. Whiners aren’t Winners.
Exactly, if you put the time you would spend complaining and blaming other to better use and continue to give it 110%, you are indeed on the right track
Alan Johnson
Wow. That little pep talk came at JUST the right time for me. Thanks!
Wa!! A panda in avatar? Be careful man…
You never know what John will do
Great post from Alan!
Adding something to the profound quote of “Quitters Never Win & Winners Never Quit”, I believe that winners should always keep in mind that there’s no plan safe enough or no change comfortable enough to be adopted. When you do something, you are always setting yourself to an even bigger fall. That’s the whole point of life, isn’t it? Winners take chances. But the difference is a winner always know that something ‘could’ go wrong and he/she is always ready to accept the fall, get up on both feet, and start running again. And that’s why a winner never quits.
I couldn’t agree more: if you’re not willing to take calculated risks, you can’t seriously expect worthwhile gains, things simply don’t work out this way. It’s always important not to let fear of failure get the best of you.
Alan Johnson
A lot of people suffer from the paralysis of analysis and never get out of the starting gate. Stop planning and just go do it.
To get in a very good place is not easy.Smart and hard work, sacrify all in way to success!
Persistance is the key for me.
Persistance is the best!
Yes, to be a winner doesn’t mean that we’ve never failed. There is a long process with so many (or even too many) failures to be a winner.
Failure is indeed a natural part of success as long as you assume responsibility for your actions and don’t try to blame things on others, as you would simply be living in denial that way.
Alan Johnson
Nice post. The amount of patience a person has usually determines how far he will go. I believe in the so-called “Law of Equivalent Exchange” — how much you’ve lost is how much you will gain… if and only if… you are patient.
Glad you’ve found the article useful and if you have a blog, don’t forget to head on over to my contest and increase your chances of taking one of the prizes (over $1k) off my hands while helping those less fortunate.
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
Nice Job Alan. It also seems that many fail due to having no plan at all! It may be cheesy but it is true: Failure to Plan is a Plan to Fail!
Thanks Again
Winners just learn - they never fail. They just go through some tough lessons from time to time, that’s all. Just like Edison said, when asked why did he continued to work on the light bulb after failing to make one nearly 10.000 times: “I just found 9.999 ways not to make a light bulb”.
Setbacks bring knowledge, wisdom and toughness. Great men are built like that - the ones that go on against all odds, always keeping the faith!
Yes. So true. I used to be a quiter. Now, no matter what you think! No matter what you say! No matter what my ex-wife say! I AM A WINNER!!!
It can be a daunting task when all you do is “look up in the skies” rather then standing on the “shoulder of giants”.
It takes a lot of dedication and stubbornness to hang in there…but if you can, the rewards are can be substantial.
We fall so that we may get back up. Good post alan.
Indeed, it takes a lot of dedication to be successful and that’s actually why most people end up failing, but the rewards can be more than worthwhile if you manage to hand in there
Alan Johnson
these guest posts just keep getting worse and worse
That’s not what others seem to think but you have the right to an opinion, just like everyone else. Though, if you expect to be taken seriously, I’d suggest explaining what exactly you don’t agree with rather than limiting yourself to 9 words in the future
Alan Johnson
I consider my father a winner (multi million $ company with 600 staff) and he sent me an SMS on news year day that went like this:
“Never make the same mistake twice
There are so many new ones to make!
Try a different one every day in 2008!”
I really enjoy your Blog. I subscribed about a few weeks ago and
your Ebook is Amazing. Thanks for sharing this article. I really liked it.
Glad you find my blog and ebook useful and rest assured, this is only the beginning
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
So finally I stumble into Cow land and read my first ever JC post. Hmmm. Well I can say it’s about as earth shattering as I expected, though from the groupies and drones trying to snag some area code love notwithstanding, it’s kind of funny. I guess expectations can be shattered with reality….I was just so hoping that wasn’t the case…LOL…NOT….here kissy fish….smmmmooooooochhhhhhh….LOL…
Too funny.
T
15K + drones and you get 20 something comments?….Something smells dude….LOL….
T
TechCrunch.com 642K RSS readers and only 58 comments on this latest post. Does that smell too?
You must know a lot about blogging. I mean, you have 61 readers after all. Are you sure you’re only 1 quart low?
I’ve always wondered about that to. They should be getting 10 times the comments they’re getting.
No prob dude and yeah, I know nothing about the sport and really don’t care, but I wasn’t talking about me….but thanks for caring!
T
Wow! This is my read of the day
Keep up the good work!
-Mike
Another good post from you Alan
keep up the good work
Another way to success is not to find excuses for everything. When you don’t feel like starting, don’t get age and profession as your excuse and when you fail, as stated in the post, don’t blame others.
Very well written…
Great post - it really comes down to taking action versus talking about taking action and then keeping that action going.
Indeed, while wanting to take action/talking about taking action is an important first step, you will get nowhere unless you take things to the next level.
Alan Johnson
Great post John! I did one similar last week that I’d love for you to read.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=129462503
Let me know what you think.
-Will
Why not? I always act like a winner. Then only I can win occasionally.
Failure is a natural part of success, show me a winner who claims to have never failed and I’ll show you a liar
Alan Johnson
yea I agree with alan on so many things.
[...] to be exact for the month of January. I would be able to earn $300 a month let alone $30,000+. Do You Act Like a Winner? - Alan Johnson asks the question ‘Do You Act Like a Winner?’ and gives you the [...]
Hi there - great post - i have failed heaps of times. someone posted on my blog today that i make mistakes because I’m an idiot. I’m willing to bet a years salary that they’ve never been successful in anything!
Also - the on paper thing is spot on - my projections always look great and my accounts usually suck. Even when they don’t - that’s a bad thing as it usually means I owe the taxman a heap.
[...] posts over at John Chow’s blog, where I have referred to the issue of thinking as well as acting like a [...]
Raise your hand if you ever flushed money down the hole cus you wanted to make some so bad and fast. Thats the big secret…even if you are desparate, build a quality business with the end user first in mind not you.
I don’t think is about acting as a winner. The winner in you has to come right from your heart. So what if you act but deep inside you, you are just the old you. You need to want something so badly that you are going to do what ever it takes to make it. It’s very hard to describe what it feels like but still it has to come from your very core - your heart. Positive thinking is want think but wanting really badly is another.
Terry Tay
You’d be surprised as to how many people want something so badly that they think they could do anything in order to achieve their goals, yet end up failing as a result of limiting themselves to that
I like your spirit John !! Very Very motivating post.