Let’s conclude our conversation on winning today by talking about the right way to win. It is directly tied to doing the right thing.
Winning at all costs is out of vogue. While it never was authentic, it once was popular to focus on winning no matter what it took. The idea was to come out on top, even if you had to sell your soul to the devil to get there. Remember the movie Wall Street?
Let’s look at some real-life “winners” who took that ill-fated approach. Lance Armstrong immediately comes to mind. So do Roger Clemens, John Edwards and Bernard Madoff. Sure they were successful … once. But that success eventually fell apart because of the way it was obtained.
Then there are winners who will remain winners because they won the right way. Colin Powell, Mother Teresa, Ronald Reagan, Tom Hanks and Taylor Swift are top of mind.
The most important thing I can tell you about winning is this: Stay true to yourself.
Always strive for excellence, always bring your best game and understand that if you lose in spite of doing everything right—then maybe you haven’t really lost at all. Maybe you are just in a different game with a different finish line.
Knute Rockne put it this way: “Win or lose, do it fairly.”
What steps can you take today, right now, to make sure you’re winning the right way?