Everyone wants to win in life.
Levelling up is something many people want. It’s one of the many things we all want but winning as an end goal is not entirely in your control.
I will tell you what’s in your control: the practice. The process. The tiny details. The many routines that define your day. The habits that control a more significant part of your day.
Showing up every day, week or month and doing the right things is also in your control. Making an intelligent effort, doing the work, pursuing what brings out the best in you and committing to a workable process have proven to be better ways to improve the odds of success.
All these actions are completely are up to us to manage. Either you put in the work to make progress, make good outcomes possible, or don’t.
“The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort,” says Mark Cuban.
The practice, repeated long enough, improves your odds of winning. It opens the opportunities that can translate into success.
More often than not, the good news is that if the practice is right, success will find you: your effort will be recognised.
Effort doesn’t equal success, though. You are likely to fail. But failure is not the point. Consistent practice is the real key to improving your chances of winning in life or career.
For anything you want, repeat the process long enough, and your effort is likely to pay off. But winning is not guaranteed.
Winning follows a pattern. It’s your job to find and use the right principles, rules, models, and systems to make the practice worth your while.
“See the pattern, find your practice, and you can begin to live the process of making magic. Your magic, says Seth Godin in his book, The Practice.
An essential requirement for success in any endeavour is consistent practice
The outcome may not be in your control, but the process is entirely up to you. If you do the best you can and make it a habit, those actions compound in your favour.
They improve your odds of finding favour or luck. When preparation meets opportunity, a lucky break is likely to emerge.
If you can overcome the practice challenge, you are halfway to a better outcome. The real goal is to repeat as many processes as possible. Every action or smart routine gets you closer to the next level.
Want to win the writing game? Write. Make it a daily or weekly habit. Repeat the process long enough, and you are likely to attract the connections that make winning easier or possible.
Want a better life? Focus on finding healthier, wiser, wealthier habits you can repeat for as long as possible. Don’t make it chore.
Embrace habits or routines you can practice without holding back. You don’t have to embrace every habit you come across; you just have to find and repeat a few that work for you.
I like what Pat Summitt once said, “Winning is fun… Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.”
Who you are tomorrow is utterly dependent on how you spend your time today. Day to day actions are totally in our control. Show me what you do daily, and I can predict a possible outcome of your life.
The practice is how you take ownership of your success. If you really want to win the game of life, find out the crucial habits and routines that actually move the needle: actions you can measure.
Seek out opportunities for growth or progress. Double down on actions that are delivering the results you want. “Opportunity doesn’t make appointments, you have to be ready when it arrives,” Tim Fargo once said.
You win or, better still, improve your chances of winning through your daily actions. Make them count. The real question is: do you care enough about the outcome to repeat the process?
Winning is getting ahead of your present self and taking actionable steps to give your future self a better chance of success.
By all means, plan to win and prepare to win but remember, winning is not guaranteed. Win or lose, there are always lessons learned. Use the lessons to your advantage. Take the next step, better informed.
And finally, don’t forget to refine the process: stop doing what’s not working and improve what gets you closer to the end goal. I like how Seth Godin puts it in his book, The Practice, “If the practice you’ve developed isn’t getting you what you are after, you can politely walk away from it.”
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This post was previously published on Thomas Oppong’s blog.
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