Deception from the Winners

There is an interesting phenomenon that happens when we study winners. It could be that we want to see how the successful business found its footing. It could be that we want to see how the Super Bowl champ won it all. It could be that we evaluate the tactics of the award-winning individual.

If we single out the winners, we will hear similar refrain. They will attribute their success to their hard work and the long hours. If they are humble, they will credit their support team and those that helped.

For me, it is more interesting to look at what is different from those who did not win. Often, you will see the same work ethic. You will have a similar supporting cast. In fact, those cast members are often on other winning teams at various points in their career.

When we start to look at the differences, we see a slightly different story. We see the full system instead of the filtered version.

We will start to identify several factors that all played a part. We will see the intersecting of these facets to create the outcome.

Yes, hard work is a part of it. But so it talent. So is luck. So is sacrifice. So is timing. Often, you will see compromising and trading success in one area for massive success in another.

When you start your journey towards the success and happiness you deserve, make sure you understand that all these factors interconnect to create the full system.

This will help you avoid chasing the one element that you feel is all that matters. It will help you see your strengths and weaknesses. As the full picture immerges, you will be better equipped to put in place the necessary systems to succeed.

In The Compound Effect – Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy, the author says, “Promise yourself that you’re going to let go once and for all of your lottery-winner expectations because, let’s face it, you only hear stories about the one winner, not the millions of losers. That person you see jumping up and down in front of the Vegas slot machine or holding the big check on TV doesn’t reveal the hundreds of times that same person lost.”

It is easy to get caught up in the lottery-winner expectations. There is an emotional draw to it. It seems easy. But it overshadows the reality. We even take on this mindset when we know work is required and sacrifice is part of it.

When we evaluate the full system, we can see that there must be lots of losers to make it possible for one person to win that much money. The full system reveals all of it, so we get a realistic perspective.

Many times, when people fail, it seems obvious from the outside. Others can easily judge why that person fell short.

But the individual was likely caught up in chasing an example of a winner that took similar steps. Humans are great at mimicking others. That skill is what helped us evolve. In today’s world, we can be misled by trying to mimic one small aspect of a larger system while expecting massive results that a completely different system generated.

Therefore, we should evaluate the full system. Segmenting out the winners, means we ignore most of the system. We are searching for the one key to success but don’t realize that it is likely many factors all interconnecting to create a successful system. Instead, focus on the system.