Qualities: WINNER

Almost everyone wins at something now and then. The real winner wins consistently in pursuit of challenging goals. The real winner has developed a set of qualities––determination, optimism, goal-setting, self-confidence and maximum use of personal resources––that match capabilities with reachable but difficult objectives. The winner has learned the habit-forming value of winning in enjoyable activity, and how to sustain performance and focus beyond most others. The real winner thrives on winning as much as most people thrive on avoiding challenge and fearing failure.

Winners get scars too.
––Johnny Cash

Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.
––Polybius

Winners evaluate themselves on what they are, not on what other people think they should be. They do not allow themselves to be guided by other people’s standards or beliefs. Winners do not allow others to act as their judge and jury….So, imagine yourself to be a winner. Program your subconscious mind with positive concepts and attitudes of love, success, and self-respect. As you think, so shall you become.
––James K. Van Fleet, Hidden Power, 1987

Intensity is what matters, not the nobility or baseness of the aspiration. Intensity opens the doors on the inner resources and releases energy. Strong desire floods the being with the tremendous energy to achieve that aspiration; weak desire produces indifferent energy. This principle has nothing to do with what people say they want or how they behave––it has everything to do with what they really want.
––Frederick G. Harmon, The Executive Osyssey, 1989

We all know that failure must be dealt with, but we are less likely to understand that winning brings its problems, too. Winning requires management just as surely as does losing. Wins and losses both demand that we set a new level of difficulty.
––Gilbert Brim, Ambition: How We Manage Success and Failure Throughout Our Lives, 1992

Winning is habit-forming: The smaller and sooner you start, the easier and greater it becomes.
––John Roberts

The real winner goes beyond mere scores and relative victories, which may have much to do with the nature of the loser. The building of a winning system of attitudes and behavior and the resulting satisfaction and change that permeate the winner are far more important than the victories they achieve.

The real winner knows that winning is a personal philosophy and a way of life that requires a quantum jump into a comprehensive, deeply imbedded attitude and belief system. That system sees personal goals with a different vision that most others do not understand or feel the need to achieve. The real winner has developed a different kind of brain for overcoming difficulty and finding happiness with a mind that automatically pursues exceptional achievement with intense effort.