Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits. –Richard M. Nixon
Defeat – a six letter word that has interfered with so many dreams coming true. Experiencing defeat can not only discourage you, it can cause you to question your faith and distract you from walking in your purpose. All too often I see my friends; colleagues and clients allow situational defeat and life’s challenges to interfere with their attempts to achieve life-long goals.
But defeat is merely a distraction. When you’ve failed at something, you can find yourself caught up in miniscule non-sense between family, friends, colleagues and sometimes people you have no intent on maintaining relationships with instead of focusing on winning.
Winning requires you to:
- Prioritize– prioritize yourself above all. If you do not invest in your personal growth you cannot truly be of value to others.
- Accept– that failure is a possibility you may encounter. When you are on your way to winning there will be times when you are rejected. That “yes” may be a “no” or the once open door may now be closed. That just means greater is in store.
- Focus– learn to balance life distractions and remain diligent in your path to achieve your goals. Distractions are merely opportunities for you to practice discipline. Focus means you must:
Find a quiet space to yourself;
Open your mind to the possibility of trying something new;
Cultivate your brand by announcing your goals to your support group (friends, family, mentors);
Use your resources to your advantage. Resources include those who have knowledge or access you may need to achieve your goals;
Sacrifice. “We must learn to say NO to things that do not support our pursuit of greatness.”
- Rinse and Repeat. You may have heard the saying “If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.” When we make small wins, often it gives us confidence to take the next step or try something different and those moves are great; but I’ve found that if you are able to make small wins to get to the big goals by using a strategy you’ve created that works then continue to do that over and over again until you find that it doesn’t work – forcing you to try something new. Now you can make improvements but you must always remember what you did right, and continue to do that.
When you make a decision to WIN, others will follow you in your pursuit. When you’re going in a direction of giving up, you’ll find not many will throw a parade in support of your decision to quit. So keep moving forward – never give up and understand that winning is a well-deserved achievement, so go and get what’s yours.
Until next time,
Mary V. Davids, Leadership & Career Development Coach