The Secret To Developing A Winning Mentality

The Secret To Developing A Winning Mentality

How do you feel when someone says to you “I am better than you, I am greater than you, I can do this job better than you”?

Do you quickly take offense? Do you immediately think that this person is some arrogant idiot?  Or do you dig in your hills, square your shoulders and say, bring it on.

You see that sad truth is that the majority of people would take offense to such comments and despise someone for being so bold. But the reality is that human beings are by nature created with a competitive spirit. We are created like this for the simple reason – the laws of nature are based on survival. We all think competitively in almost everything we do. Plants compete for sunlight, water and nutrients, animal compete for food and we humans also compete for basic needs and in our day to day lives. The problem is that much of society, in trying to teach humility often makes us believe that being competitive and thinking that you can do better than the other person is arrogant and wrong.

Now let me make it clear that I am not referring to arrogance here. I’m talking about a maintained inner confidence that says I believe I can, I want to and I’m always willing to do things better to add more value to my life, over the competition.

The main reason why we compete and think competitively is not just to win and achieve, but most importantly we add value to our lives in the process.

How is it that two people who do the exact same job, one gets paid twice as much or three or four times as much as the other. Two athletes play for the same team, plays the same position but one gets paid astronomically higher than the other.

It is because one person has said over the other, I believe I can, I want to and I’m always willing to do whatever it takes to be better and better to improve myself.  Adding value to your life dictates your worth when it comes to being compensated properly for your work. The more value you add, the greater the pay you command.

To be great and do great things, you must set yourself apart from the crowd. A competitive spirit is what will set you apart from the crowd. Greatness is never seen within the crowd. The secret to being great is having the ability set yourself apart, over and above the crowd. How do you set yourself apart from the crowd?

The first step in setting yourself apart from the crowd is having big dreams. Jim Rohn said, “your dreams and goals can become magnets”. The bigger your dreams, the stronger the magnetic energy that pushes you to greatness. It is that same energy that will pull you and lift you off the ground when you have fallen. It will lift you far above the crowd and keep you moving in the winter months, in the dry desert times and in the dark nights.  Your dreams will keep you motivated. Dream big. Set your goals far above the crowd and hold yourself accountable for attaining them.

The second step in setting yourself apart from the crowd is to avoid commonality. Avoid commonality at all cost. Don’t try to do what everyone else is doing. It will just get you lost in the crowd. Great people don’t follow, they often lead. Seek out a problem and race to be ahead in finding the solution.

The third and most important thing in setting yourself apart from the crowd is “doing it better”. The one thing that all great people have in common is that they all are recognized for doing something better than most. Its not that they are necessarily smarter, but because they all possess this competitive spirit that says “do it better than they can”

Major companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Samsung all follow that same principle and in so doing has gained them much value.  It is that same principle that brought us the modern advancements of the industrial revolution and the technological revolution that we see today.

So, think competitively and be the best at what you do. When you do it better you inspire greatness, you inspire others to be great. Always do it better and watch value be added to your life.