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

To get to the top they were working day and night chasing a dream. 

They didn’t just do what they needed to do, they over-did. They were relentless, they paid any price. Why? Because they knew they had to. There was no assurance they were good enough to actually break through to the top. They believed they could. They desperately wanted to, so they were willing to pay any price. 

They didn’t just work, they sacrificed. 
They denied themselves the normal enjoyments of life so they would not be distracted. They went into a tunnel. They consciously decided to pay the price of greatness. They simplified and streamlined their life so they could maintain a manic focus on getting to the top as fast as possible. They knew that the faster they got there the longer they could enjoy it.

When they win their dream comes true! 
They are flooded with emotion. Everyone who previously criticized them now sings their praises. They are so proud. This is all so new for them. Now they are super popular. Everyone wants some of their time. 

And finally they get the goodies!
They get the money! They get the awards and recognition. They get the perks. They get the velvet glove treatment everywhere they go. Everyone knows who they are and wants to ingratiate themselves, so all of a sudden they go to the front of the lines at restaurants, they go first class everywhere. They love the attention and new respect. They like being treated special.

They start to exhale and get comfortable. 
They relax a little. They start to enjoy the benefits. They start buying things they couldn’t afford for themselves and their family. They start going places they couldn’t afford to go before. The simple and focused monastic life they lived before slowly becomes a thing of the past. Once they start winning they start enjoying, they don’t drive themselves as hard.

Soon they can’t even remember living that way. They think they are continuing to work hard and pay the price for continued success, but in reality…they aren’t. 

The trap is they become distracted. 
They have so many thoughts in their mind, things to do, people to see and enticing opportunities to deal with that weren’t there before. Their schedule gets cluttered. They have a lot more people in their lives. What they have worked so hard to achieve is suddenly right there and it gets overwhelming. They had spent so much time focusing on getting there that they never spent a minute thinking about what they would do once it happened. They failed to even consider how they would handle the new opportunities. The result? Before they realize it, the distractions get the best of them and soon they have lost their winning edge. 

They know it’s gone, but they have no idea how they lost it and have no real assurance that they will ever get it back. Like so many before them, they fell into the Winner’s Trap.

5 Steps to Making Great Decisions

A leader guides by making decisions…calling the plays that keeps the team moving

That’s why they call them leaders, but frequently it’s hard to know what needs to be done. So many choices, so many factors to consider. When faced with the problem of figuring out what needs to be next, it’s helpful to have some guidelines to minimize the guesswork.

Here’s 5 simple keys to help you make and implement consistent great decisions:

1. Frame the issue and quickly get your options on the table. 
Decision making works a lot like computers. They call it GIGO, garbage in equals garbage out. If you have bad information you’ll make bad decisions. If you have great information you’ll make great decisions.  Do your research. Get input from all key parties involved.

Those closest to the situation have the most information and best instincts. You may not agree with them but you need to know what they are thinking and why. Then unemotionally clarify your choices. Eliminate the obvious. Put the best options down on paper.

2. The Right Time
Timing is everything! The Leader has to watch his team like a hawk! They have to anticipate problems. By doing that they have time to get their options in advance of calling a shot. They have time to not only make the best choice but also pick the best time to implement it. A great decision made too late is a poor decision.

3. Make the call! 
There is thinking time and there is GO time! At some point you have to stop gathering facts because you have ENOUGH facts. Past that point all you are doing is clouding the issue. Too much information and you find too many reasons why nothing will work. Instead of helping you make a better decision it causes you to delay making the RIGHT decision. Just like there’s a time to get your options on the table, there is a time to say ENOUGH - I know what I need to know. Let’s go NOW!

4. Sell the Decision—inspire confidence. 
You can’t just TELL, you must SELL them on it. Any kind of change is going to be disruptive. People don’t like change. It requires extra effort to adjust to new things. Most would rather keep on doing the same things the same way. You need to share with them the consequences of staying on the same course. Let them know the other options you have considered and then show the disadvantages of each. That gives them the frame of reference to buy in and accept your new plan because they understand why this appears to be the best choice.

When you share some of the thought processes with them it allows them to feel part of the team and to really get behind the new direction as opposed to feeling like they are being bossed around for no understandable reason.

5. Implement Immediately and Decisively. 
A mediocre decision executed with enthusiasm will always beat an excellent decision executed half-heartedly. Don’t hesitate, charge. Make the adjustments fast. Don’t leave room for doubt. Lead the way making all the changes involves to get on the new course right away. Put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into the move. Let everyone see you are excited about it and expecting great new results for everyone to come from what you are now doing!

You want to start racing in the direction as fast as possible so you can find out quickly if this is exactly the right call or you need to make any other adjustments. You’ll never know until you get the team moving. As soon as you see the next step that needs to be taken, jump on it so you can keep improving things and give your people better and better chances to be the most productive. 

All teams go through times of change. Making it happen successfully can be a leader's finest hour. More opportunities for success will be created and the team can be re-energized and re-united the in the process!

Winning Is A Way of Life

Winning is not a sometime thing.  

It’s not a one-time thing, it’s something you can build your life around. It's who you are. It's your approach to life.

It's your attitude. 

If you won something, that is one achievement in time, but winning or a winning approach means you decide to take charge of your life.  

“Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” –Vince Lombardi

If you want the best in one area of your life, you want it in the others too. If you are successful in one area but miserable in others its going to drag you down.

If you are successful in business, making lots of money yet your health, family and personal life is terrible, what good does it do you? You aren’t going to be able to get much enjoyment out of your hard earned success.

There’s no settle for second best in anything
In every phase of your life you realize things can be better. There’s nothing that can’t be improved. In fact the same approaches that allow you to be successful in one area of your life can work in others.

It doesn’t matter if things aren’t going well right now because no matter how bad things are going, you can turn things around and move back up. No matter how bad, bleak, dark the situation is, it can be improved.  

The same is true of success
No matter how high you go, how big a success you have, you can make it bigger. The lessons you learned on your way up can be used to take you higher.

The higher you climb, the higher you can climb.

Winning is a way of life, not just a sometime thing, it’s an all-the-time thing.

What 99% of people don’t know about New Year’s Resolutions

Most people start the New Year full of hope.

It’s a fresh start, a clean slate. It’s time to fix things in your life that you’re not happy with. What do people do? They make resolutions. I’m doing to quit smoking, I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to get more sleep, I’m going to start working out. I’m going to spend more time with my family. The list is endless.  

But 99% are headed for failure
It happens every year and with such regularity that it’s become a joke. People almost expect to break their resonlutions even as they’re starting because they know history. Why is it that most fail? What could they do different to set themselves up for success?  

It’s a fresh start
Make a decision not a resolution. The mistake is they make a resolution and not a decision. When you make a decision it is definite you are deciding you’re going to take charge of your life. You’re deciding things are going to change. You are locking in on a goal. You have come to a conclusion about your life and there’s some changes you’ve decided are going to be made. That is a decision. It is non-negotiable. It is not built on a bunch of conditions…if this works out perfect, if that works out perfect—no—it’s going to happen regardless.

A resolution is much weaker
Resolutions are like giving something a try. I’m going to “attempt” to do something. This is a play I’m going to run. If everything works perfectly, if I am able to get myself to do these things then I can get the result. The mistake is focusing on how you’re going to get there. The mistake is making your commitment to how you’re going to get there rather than the fact that you have DECIDED that you ARE going to get there! Resolutions are all about the process rather than the goal so when you commit to a resolution as soon as something comes along in life to interrupt your routine… BAM! You broke your resolution, you give up. 

The critical mistake
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Don’t give up, make an adjustment! Get a new plan, if you, “fall off the wagon,” immediately restart. The trouble with most people starting resolutions is they expect they must follow this rigid new path they’ve set for themselves and as soon as they break the chain they panic and quit.  

Success is getting to your goals  
Once you get there you’ll forget how long it took. It won’t matter. It’s totally inconsequential at that point that you had to make a course correction along the way, you had to regroup and restart your game plan. You had to reschedule, reorganize your time, or any other change you made along the way. The important thing is you will have done it. When you make a decision instead of a resolution, your eye is firmly on your “prize” no how you’re going to get there. Resolutions fail because you focus on the method.

Set yourself up for success in 2012 make decisions not resolutions.

Winners Win Anyway

You will be challenged.

In every phase of life, at every age, in every circumstance you will face challenges. It doesn’t matter if you're rich or poor, old, young, what country you come from, what faith, what background, what combination of good and bad or bad things have happened to you in your life. We all have been, and will be, facing challenges. 

As soon as you solve one problem another pops up…its always something.
You are going to have things happen that aren't perfect, that mess up your world, that you have to deal with. When they come into your life they bring a question: is this the one that causes you to give up? The answer to that comes back to your attitude, your toughness and your fighting spirit. 

When faced with challenges do you give in or do you fight?
Do you let them push you around or do you push them around? How much do you need to be backed up before you get your back to the wall and you come out fighting? How much does it take for you to turn on your fighting response… your “fight back” response? 

Success goes to the overcomers
In life, challenges come no matter what it is you want to do. It doesn’t matter what it is… fun things, hard things, work things, hobbies, big challenges….it doesn’t matter. In anything you want to do you're going to have challenges and things are only accomplished by overcoming. Most of these are unanticipated. So when these challenges come what is your response?

Are you going to fight or are you going to give in?
It's at time of the biggest challenge that people reveal who they are; if they can be trusted, if they're resilient, if they've got the fighting spirit, if they'll hang in there or if they mean business or dead serious, if they can be counted on to lead or are they weak, they're shallow, uncommitted, looking for an excuse, ready to run, ready to fold and give up just because something went wrong.

This is when you find out how bad you really want it
Unless you make your mind up, unless you want to do something bad enough to overcome the problems you'll never get anything done. Something will always come up that will give you a reason to quit. The people who win are the people who win “anyway” or in spite of things that go wrong along the way. It doesn’t matter what goes wrong. They find a way to win “anyway.”

They've got problems or maybe more problems than anybody else, but they stand and fight and the result is… win “anyway.”  

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Feedback: Isn’t it amazing that there is always something standing between you and every single thing you want to do?

Go For Greatness

You don't win by going for good. You win when you go for GREAT.

How do you do that? Get a Big Goal (Emphasis = Big)! Get a goal that excites you. Lock in on something that “Sets You on Fire!" 

If you can’t fire yourself up, how can you possibly fire up anyone else?
Without an exciting Goal you will get beat again and again. Get your emotions involved – make this MEAN something to you. Find a way to make a long term impact for yourself, your family, your community.

Small goals are killers. 
No one works hard for a small goal. Small goals are like Titanic Goals – you get beat before you get started. No one is inspired by the rallying call “Let’s go for #2!"

The First Step in doing anything Great is having the courage to Go for the Big Goal!

Do the Big Things Well

To be successful you can’t major on the minors.

Life is full of limitations—we’re not going to be here long and we don’t have unlimited resources.

If you’re going to stand out you’ve got to stay focused.

People, and companies who rise to the top do it because there is something they do better than everyone else. In that arena they are the best.

But when success comes people forget that.
They start adding features and adding products. “Look at us now, we not only have that, we also have this, and this, and this!”

They expect super success but often find their profits stop growing and even drop. Why? They’ve over complicated things and lost their focus on their #1 product.

Just because you’re on top now doesn’t mean you’ll be on top in the future. 
If you’re going to stay on top you have to keep improving. What won last year won’t win this year. Unless a company continues to focus on getting better it will slide down the charts.

The same thing works with people.

You establish yourself in life by what you can do. If you have risen to the top it’s because you fought your way there. You had to earn it. And if you are going to stay there you’ve got to keep getting better or the next guy will come up and knock you off.

So you can’t get side tracked. 

Don’t let distractions cause you to lose your main focus. You know what the big things are that make you special. So if you want to continue to improve and move up in life… 

Stay focused on doing your most important things better and better.

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How can you simplify and specialize in order to get better at what you NEED to be doing?