- Winners make no excuses
- Winners know how to prioritize
- Winners are consistent
- Winners understand the benefit of teamwork
- Winners take risks
Is there anything more human than giving up when the going gets tough? After all, it’s simple enough to find some pretty good reasons. The downside is when you have a goal and end up quitting before you achieve it, you lose out.
Yes, we’ve all done it, we’ve all been there, we’ve all quit. Of course, it’s all swings and roundabouts. If most of your goals are achieved and only some fall along the way, that sounds pretty reasonable. But what if it’s the other way around? What if you fail to achieve most of your goals? That’s when people regard you as a quitter.
Characteristics of Quitters
1. They Give In To Resistance
When faced with a challenge, resistance bubbles up. Quitters almost always give in to resistance. How can you get around this? You have to use willpower to push ahead without falling prey to criticism. There will always be resistance, no matter what you want to do in life. The only way to get to where you want to go is through it, not by quitting.
2. They Overthink
Every step has to be analyzed from every angle. You can’t make a move until you have considered this, that, and the other. You can’t jump in until you’ve created a long list of pros and cons. When you overthink everything, it’s easy to down tools, quit, and walk away.
What can you do about it? Persist. Whatever it takes, find a way to keep going. Find a way to persist in the face of everything. Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, and your habits will define your character. It is your character, therefore, that determines your destiny.
3. They Get Sucked Into Drama
You aren’t just what you eat, you’re also who you surround yourself with. So, who do you spend time with? If you spend time with negative people who create drama, then you’re going to be a dramatic, negative person whether you like it or not. The issue is we often don’t see people for what they are until it’s too late. They can give you bad advice, but you’re not going to know just how bad it is until it has backfired.
Instead of allowing this to force you to quit, learn to filter your friends, filter your thoughts, and surround yourself with good people.
4. They Crave Instant Gratification
You want to succeed, everyone does. Unfortunately, quitters expect instant gratification and when they realize how much work is required, they give up and walk away. The world we live in is all about instant gratification and that’s making it easier to throw goals away.
Respect your time and recognize that anything worth doing or having will require time and effort. Success requires patience and you can and will succeed if you’re willing to work.
5. They Don’t Have an Inner Circle
It’s helpful to have an inner circle. Your inner circle will be genuine and honest, they will keep you grounded, offer advice, and support you regardless. They’re also not afraid to show you where you’re going wrong. Quitters rarely have a strong inner circle, or sometimes even anyone to turn to. Do you? Don’t isolate yourself from others, you need them.
Characteristics Of Winners
Life is tough, it can feel too hard to deal with sometimes. Despite that, there are plenty of people who manage to walk away as winners. How do they do it? Well, the path to success never changes, yet we’re all guilty of trying to find shortcuts to speed up the process. Winners do tend to have certain characteristics and here are just five:
1. No Excuses
Do you make excuses when you’re late for work, miss a workout, or forget to tackle meal prep? Winners don’t make excuses and it’s easy to find justification for not doing what you’re supposed to do. The difference between winning and excuse-making is that the latter will only give you an out to quit, give up, and walk away. Winners stick to it, even if the conditions aren’t ideal.
2. Priorities
Winners know how to prioritize. Do you look at everything that needs to be done and work out a plan to knock each of them out in the order of importance? Or do you walk blindly through your day, disorganized, and stressed out because you have no idea what’s going on. If you prioritize you can make plenty of time for work, home, and hobbies, too. Winners do.
3. Consistency
Do you know what winners know how to do? Win! All the time. They’re winning constantly because they are consistent. It’s not a one-off, it isn’t a sometimes thing, winning is a lifestyle. It becomes a habit. Winners are consistent. A yo-yo diet is the perfect way to describe what winners avoid. They don’t start off dieting on Monday morning only to give up after they slip-up come Friday night. They find a way to avoid future slip-ups, and they press the reset button on Saturday morning.
4. Team Work
Winners understand that sometimes success is a team effort. When someone else succeeds it doesn’t mean they can’t. When they see others succeed it simply fuels their want to succeed more. They don’t just aim to succeed for themselves, they also build others up physically, spiritually, and mentally so that everyone can succeed.
5. Risk-Taking
Winners win because they’re willing to take risks. If you never take a risk, then you will never succeed for success lies outside the comfort zone. Winners know that by taking risks and controlling things where possible they provide the best chance to succeed. Winners don’t worry about loss; they don’t concern themselves with the potential disaster that awaits them because they’re too busy doing absolutely everything possible to ensure their success.
A winner has a good grasp of who they are, they aren’t afraid to be honest with themselves. They know when to recover and when to push and they’re not afraid to push themselves to the limit. Winners believe everything is possible. They know their purpose, they compete, they train, and they do it meaningfully. Winners don’t waste time. They remain focused on people and activities that build them up.
If you want to be a winner, then you have to look at life differently. It isn’t a race; it’s a journey and that journey will be filled with twists and turns. Do you have what it takes to keep moving forward? If you can’t answer yes to that question right now, I encourage you to take the necessary steps to ensure you can in the future.