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Win The Day


The concept of "win the day" has caught some attention in recent years. The University of Oregon and their former coach, Chip Kelly, used it to motivate their players to stay on task each and every day. It's really pretty simple, but for many of us, including myself, we struggle with the execution of it.

We struggle doing the small tasks daily, that will make a big difference for the goal we're trying to accomplish. But why is that? The only way to truly answer that, is to look at yourself right now, and to figure out what's stopping you from winning the day and getting you one step closer to accomplishing your goal.

Set a goal, create a plan to achieve it, then go to work. That's easy to say and even write, but for a lot of us, we fail at one of those stages. Maybe even all of those stages. We might do well at setting the goal but fail to create a plan on achieving it. Or we might create a plan but fail at executing it. That's where "win the day" comes into play.

Take a look at your day. What will it take today to win it? Keep in mind that to win, you only have to be 1 point or 1% better. So for example, if you break out your day into 10 actions, then you only have to complete 6 of those to win the day. And if you do that 4 out of the 7 days in a week, then you win the week. If you do that 16 days out of 30 days in a month, then you win the month, so on and so forth.

You can see how that will add up quickly and build up confidence on the goal you're trying to accomplish. We often think that success comes down to one big moment, but in reality, it comes down to thousands of smaller moments. Moments that you can either attack and try to win, or moments you can choose to skip and decide to tell yourself you'll do it later. That decision may not seem like a big deal, but it's add up, and eventually, it will bite you. Think about it as compound interest. Over time, if applied correctly, your daily actions will eventually build enough of a foundation that it's not possible for you to fail, at least in the traditional sense.

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." - Vince Lombardi

This is such a powerful quote from the late Vince Lombardi, who has coached, hundreds if not thousands of individual winners as well as created several winning teams. The power of winning and what it can do for your confidence is such an amazing thing.

Here's 5 habits all winners share:


  1. Winners have positive self-esteem - Self esteem is a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of her or his own worth.
  2. Winners are optimistic - Optimism is expecting the most favorable result from your actions. Winners not only think positively, they obsess about it.
  3. Winners have positive self motivation - Focus on where you want to go instead of the obstacles in your path. Drive and persistence will take you to your desired destination. Don't allow fear to restrict or defeat your goals.
  4. Winners have a high internal standard - With a high internal standard you're driven from within and not affected by what others think or the outcome of the situation.
  5. Winners have positive self discipline - You may be motivated to succeed but you have to constantly work toward your goals. Practice, practice, practice. Excellence isn't a one week or one year ideal. It's a constant.

Everyone of us can be a winner, but you have to be committed to continuous growth and improvement. Athletes of all ages can be and should be taught this. We all know that for most of us, sports will eventually stop, but the value of learning to become a winner can be applied to all aspects of our life.
Losers complain. Winners train and gain. Losers seek attention. Winners earn respect. Losers blame others for their problems. Winners find solutions. Losers live in the past. Winners learn from their past to better their futures.

It's time to get excited about YOUR dreams and to take responsibility for YOUR decisions. Break out your day into smaller actions and start WINNING THE DAY!

*Some of this information was taken from SlideShare.net, "Psychology Of The Winner"






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