7 Keys to Avoiding the Winner’s Trap

Mediocrity sneaks up on the unsuspecting winner by flooding them with new opportunities. 

The unaware winners get distracted just enough, just slightly, from doing the things that got them to the top. They lose what would seem to others an imperceptible amount of their intensity and focus. But the line between winning and losing is very fine. Before they realize it, they have lost their winning edge and they slump.

Here are 7 tips that can help you avoid the deadly trap:

1. Realize that your life has changed now. It will be more complicated from a time standpoint. Before you focused primarily on budgeting your MONEY. Now you will need to focus on budgeting your TIME. So limit distractions. Of course you want to enjoy your success but you can’t do it all. 

2. Make a definite choice to put a priority on preparation. Keep your work time a top priority so you have a chance to stay on top. That’s the goose that lays the golden egg! That’s what will keep you in a position to continuing enjoying things. Make sure NOTHING interferes with your ability to continue to WORK HARD.

3. Ramp up your planning. Eliminate the time wasters so you can absorb many of the new opportunities without disrupting your schedule. Everyone has fat in their schedule. Take charge of it like never before. Not every activity is critical. Work to find ways to get the most out of your schedule. Things that take an hour can probably get done in 30 or 45 minutes. Many of the things that you always did in the past can probably delegated to others. 

4. Get better at saying NO. Realize you can’t do it all. Life is all about choices. Think about what is really important and weed out the unimportant. Don’t just keep doing the same things because you have always done them. Move on so you can move up.

5. Be disciplined like never before. Realize the penalty for getting off track is losing your focus is that you will get beat and your victory will be short lived. Don’t allow yourself to get sloppy with your time. Your success has given you the chance to add a bunch of things you want to do to your already large number of things you HAVE to do to keep winning. Don’t apologize for being disciplined and organized and don’t let others tempt you into relaxing your commitment. They are not your friends. 

6. Work SMARTER. Use the lessons you learned on the way up to fine tune your training. By winning you learned for yourself what things worked best for you and what things were not as profitable. This way you can get even more results from the time you put in. You may have even moved up to be able to get access to other people—coaches who can give you inside information on life at the top. How to prepare, how to keep your edge, how to continue to improve and how to get things done in less time. 

7. Most Important - Raise your sights and get BIGGER GOALS. Don’t take a chance on losing your hunger. Give yourself a real solid reason to continue driving yourself hard. It’s great to win once but when you continue to win you put yourself much higher category. Realize that its as hard to KEEP winning as it is to win the first time. Accept the challenge to stay on top.

Choose to go after making winning an ALL the time thing and not just a ONE time thing. 

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Related: The Secret of the "Winner's Trap"—How Winners Lose Their Edge

The Celebrity Quarterback Loses Super Bowl

Tom Brady played great at times but he lost.

He had a record 16 straight completions in the first half. He was on his game. Celebrity quarterback Tom Brady (see post Celebrity vs Non-Celebrity) was playing great. So was the Non-Celebrity Eli Manning, but in the biggest game at the most important time, Eli Manning came up with a shockingly brilliant pass to Mario Manningham on the side line. It was a pass so special that people will be talking about it and reviewing it as long as they play professional football. 

Tom Brady couldn't come up with a similar play.   
He actually was slightly off throwing behind league #1 receiver Wes Welker at the end. Ordinarily Wes Walker catches that ball, this one he dropped. Had it been on target no way does it get dropped. And of course on the next play another star receiver, tight end Aaron Hernandez inexplicably dropped a perfect wide open pass and so there’s really no blame you can put on Brady. But there were other questionable throws when a great pass could have made a big difference. When the Patriots desperately needed the great play, when the receiver was there to make that play…the perfect pass never came. Brady has a history of delivering in the clutch, but not this time. Odd.

There’s “no blame” for Brady but there’s also no spectacular miracle pass to win the game either.  
There is no way you can say this is the reason the Patriots lost but it is worth noting because it highlights the fine line between winning and losing. Usually the big games are won by a great play, not by just having a “no blame” game. The quarterback is the key player and the pressure is certainly on him when time is running out and the game is one the line. For whatever reason, this time the non-celebrity quarterback came up with one of those plays and the celebrity quarterback didn’t. Was that the reason the Giants won? I don’t know but there’s no question it was a factor.

The fine line.
Football games have so many players, so many plays, so many variables that anybody’s theory can sound plausible as to why one team wins and the other team loses. But it points out clearly how hard you’ve got to work, how hard you’ve got to prepare, and how hard you’ve got to perform to reach the top.  Any little thing can make the difference.

You see it in other sports as well
That’s why there was only a fraction of an inch difference between winning and losing in 2 of the 8 races at the last Olympics where swimming hero Michael Phelps won his 8 gold medals. Recently, Novak Djokovic just barely edged out Rafael Nadal after a spectacular, intense, five hour finals tennis match at the Australian open. One bounce of the ball after 5 hours of intense competition—and one wins—the other loses.  

That’s why some people would always pick a non-celebrity over a celebrity.  
They realize that to win, no matter how talented they are, they’re going to have to give it everything they’ve got because there’s such a fine line of difference between mediocrity and greatness. It doesn’t matter how famous they are or how many times they’ve won before.

In any given game it comes down to who is the best prepared and wants it most. 
If you are choosing between a celebrity and a non-celebrity, some think that the non-celebrity is the one who is likely to be the hungriest. They think that the non-celebrity also is the one most likely to have the fewest distractions, to have the most focus and to be the most willing to all the non glamorous and painstaking grinding and grunt work needed to be the best prepared. Even if the celebrity only cuts corners slightly or is only slightly less focused, that could be enough to make a difference. The difference shows up when the intensity is the highest. 

Was that the difference in this Super Bowl? You tell me. 

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Related Posts

Celebrities Vs Non-Celebrities In The Super Bowl
Tom Coughlin, The People’s Coach
The Winning Edge Is Razor Thin

Money: The 5 Big YOU Questions

It’s your life...
and it’s all about you.

Take a moment and think about what you want for your life. Here are 5 simple questions about your financial life.

The only one who needs to be satisfied with your answers to these questions is you. 

1. How long have you been working in your job? Are you making progress or are you stuck?
2. How much are you making? Are you making what you really need to be making? Are you making what you're worth? Is more coming?
3. How much are you saving? Treading water... or sinking? Getting ahead? Do you have money for the extras?
4. Where are you headed in the next 5 years? Promotions, income, and savings...
5. What can make it better? What are your realistic options?

The great thing about being free and living in a free country is that you can choose to make changes if you want to.

Planning Ahead

Always.

One thing you can be sure of whenever you build a house, it is going to cost you more than you expect.  

It’s not just you. Ever notice what happens every time the Pentagon submits their projections for building a plane or a new battleship.

The same happens when Congress authorizes building a new bridge or new highway project. By the time the projects are completed…SHOCK…cost overruns!

Things always take longer, cost more.
You could almost automatically add 30 percent on to the expected price of any house you might plan to build. It’s also a safe bet that you can take almost any project that you're starting, especially if it’s something you've never done before, and assume it’s going to take WAY more effort, way more cost of every kind than you expect. So don't be surprised once you get involved in a project and certainly don't stop just because you've got a cost or time overrun.  

Go after things you really want
Before you start anything, make sure that even if it goes over budget, costs more, in either time or money, it’s still going to be worth it. Be sure it’s that important to you. Otherwise don’t start.

Because if it's not that important, don’t even start the project because you're likely to spend time, spend money, and then decide not to finish it when it drags on and you lose interest. Terrible. What a waste.

So be smart, think ahead.
Take the time to LOOK before you LEAP. That’s why it’s called planning. It’s worth taking a little time to be sure you know what you’re getting into. You don’t want to over analyze things because then you might talk yourself out of some things you really want to do. All you need to do is…

Be prepared for things to cost more than you expect so you only pursue the things that really matter.

Retirement - Money Isn't Everything

Boring, BORING, Boring!!!

This is EXACTLY the kind of subject that BORES people to death. That’s why it's avoided. Unfortunately, time marches on, and most people reach retirement totally unprepared and confused about how to make sense out of this phase of their lives. If you would rather not have this happen to you, you might want to spend a few minutes reading and thinking about some of these things.

The Couple's Retirement Puzzle: 10 Must-Have Conversations for Transitioning to the Second Half of Life

This one is ALL ABOUT YOU
That's what makes this an interesting and valuable book for everyone to read. The authors prove there are a LOT more important things besides money to think about as you plan for the future. It's never too early to start looking down the road and getting clear about where you want to wind up.  

When you're talking you can always find solutions and agreements.  
The clearer you are the more focused you'll be and you have the rest of your life to make sure you get where you want to go.  Roberta Taylor and Dorian Minzter’s idea is to present a strategy that gets couples talking about issues related to this phase of life.  

Here are just some of the issues they put on the table.  

1. What are my goals for the next stage of life? Learn a new language, travel, a vacation home, volunteer work.
2. Do I want to keep working and what are my options if I do?
3. How do financial decisions get made in our relationship? Am I happy with that or do I want to make changes?
4. Are our healthcare needs covered? 
5. Do we want to explore a different life style?
6. What is most important for us to do as a couple?  All of these things lead you to draft a shared vision that you can revise annually.  

This book raises an important issue and helps couples get it on the table and begin talking about it and that is how they can have the best possible retirement.

If you don’t take your future seriously, who will?

Taking the Mystery Out of Financial Planning

The point: You can get your finances in order and understand the whole thing

There are just 4 steps

When I got started in this industry I was overwhelmed with the barrage of terms, concepts, laws and products…and I was supposed to be the one who would advise others! My confusion disappeared in one short conversation with my training manager Bob Turley. Bob told me that if someone would gather 25 of the top financial planners in the country and ask them to give their opinion as to the steps needed to get your financial house in order that they would basically agree on the following 4 steps;

1. Necessities 2. Protection for Necessities 3. Money for the Future 4. Tax Strategy

1. Necessities - Here’s where you start.

You take your first dollars and buy food, shelter and clothing for your and your family - the necessities.

You don’t spend one dollar on anything else until these are covered.

2. Protection for Necessities 

Next step is to get Term Insurance on the breadwinners for the family. If both parents work, then get coverage on both. You don’t want the necessities to disappear for the family just because an accident occurs. They MUST be protected and provided for. But only buy Term, not whole life endowment or universal life or any other version of the high price spread that the whole life insurance industry loves to sell. Buy it for a dime instead of a dollar. 

It’s important but you don’t want to spend too much on it because you only have a 33% chance of dying before age 65. 

Only after the protection is in place should you think about other steps because the reality is that you could die tomorrow but you certainly won’t retire tomorrow.

3. Money for the Future

First you save, then you invest. 

Savings are “put and take funds.” Investments are “put and leave funds”.

Savings are for those emergencies that happen—a new roof, braces for your child, new tires for the car, etc. Six months of monthly income is a good target to go for. Once you have your emergency fund in place it’s time to invest. This is money you are going to put away for your retirement or even a college fund for the kids. You put this away and never think about touching it. You don’t want to jeopardize your future! A good stock mutual fund is a good choice for investing.

4. Tax Strategy

A good, intelligent tax strategy needs to be put in place at this point and it doesn’t have to be complicated.

For middle income people options are limited but they are powerful. 

Options like making the beneficiary of the term policies the owner as well so that the funds would escape the inheritance tax. Another is the IRA, the Individual Retirement Act that allows you to defer up to $5,000 annually ($6,000 if 50 or older) annually from your annual taxable income. If you want to use after-tax dollars you can put it in an Roth IRA and have your funds grow tax-free. These are just a few of the options available.

It’s no more complicated than that.

As simple as they are most people feel that they would prefer to have a professional walk them through the process of getting and implementing a plan. That’s been the reason behind the staggering growth of Primerica into the number one independent financial services marketing organization in the world. They charge no fee and recommend only products that they use themselves. You won’t go wrong getting their advice and they are easy to find anywhere in the USA, Canada or Puerto Rico.

Hurry! Don’t wait to get your finances in order. Its not confusing and you’ll have a great peace of mind about your future.

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Feedback: Have you avoided financial planning because you thought it was just too confusing? 

For Adults Only

The sooner you learn this lesson, the better your life will be.Purpose: To point out that the childish approach to life just creates stress and problems for adults

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Children don’t think this way.
When you’re a child you grow up helpless, with things done for you and since most of us start off with an absolutely amazing set of lungs to express displeasure over any slight little discomfort.

Adults quickly learn after bringing home this little package from the hospital that when baby is not happy, nobody’s happy. So we start out in life with everything revolving around us, because we are totally selfish and impatient dictators. We want what we want and we want it now!

You only get away with this when you are young
The process of growing up and becoming an adult is realizing you have to fit in in the world and you have to get certain things done, whether you are in the mood to do them or not. The reason for this is that as an adult you are expected to do things for yourself. All your childhood helpers are gone and you are expected to function as a responsible, independent, person. The sooner you realize the following statement is true the better…

“There’s never a good time to do things you don’t want to do.”

Just do it!
Life is divided into things that need to be done, have to be done, and the things that you’d rather be doing.  Eventually you realize that whether you want to do them or not doesn’t matter because they’ve got to get done. You realize that you can’t wait for inspiration to strike.

Your life becomes so much more free of stress if you just learn to bite the bullet and do the things that need to be done as quickly as possible. Then you can get them behind you and move on without the stress of those hanging over your head.  

That’s the way you stay in control of your life
That’s the way you keep the stress to a minimum. When we’re young we don’t want to go to school, we don’t want to do our homework, and we don’t want to brush our teeth. As we get older we don’t want to have to go to work and earn a living. Parents don’t want to get up in the middle of the night and comfort a screaming infant but guess what? They do. By doing the things that need to be done as fast as possible you create more space in your life for the things for the things you want to do. 

That’s life, that’s what adults do and the sooner you get clear on that the better. 

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Feedback: You know of any people who have never gotten clear on this issue?