How to Win: Jumpstart a Cycle of Business Success
Despite what you may have been told, winning is everything.
Don’t get me wrong: we do learn a lot by losing. It’s also true that nobody succeeds without failing. Look at any billionaire’s professional past—even their present—and you’ll see mountains of failure.
So, yes, missteps and tough lessons are important.
But while a loss educates you, a win energizes you. It widens your sense of possibility and helps you launch into the next challenge with courage and positivity.
If you want to build up momentum in your business, you need to win often.
And believe it or not, winning every day isn’t hard. You’re probably already winning more than you realize.
How to Rack Up Some Wins for Your Business
You’ve probably already heard the standard advice for chasing down big goals.
You take that one huge objective and break it down into smaller and smaller tasks, until you have a clear and realistic strategy for getting from where you are to where you want to be.
It’s a great approach for getting things done. But it’s an even better approach for boosting your confidence, conviction, and drive.
Let’s imagine you set a goal to double your revenue in 2022. If that’s the only goal you’ve shared with your team—the only goal you talk about, think about, and put in your business plan—then you’re not going to feel the joy of the win until the year is over.
And that’s assuming you achieve your goal at all.
On the other hand, if your goal is to double revenue and you set smaller goals to work towards that end goal, guess what?
Every small success is a win worth celebrating.
You celebrate when you bring on that new marketing director. When you increase your leads by 25%. When your new sales training efforts boost your lead close rate.
Even small daily successes count as wins, whether it’s fitting in an hour of cold calling or reaching for almonds instead of an energy drink when you hit an afternoon slump.
When you make a commitment and follow through, you’re winning.
And winning creates momentum.
Why This is More Than a Feel-Good Exercise
Let me be absolutely clear: I am not just telling you how to be happier in your business.
I am telling you how to power your business.
Winning affects our mindset, our approach to our work, and even our physiology. When you take a moment to recognize and celebrate each commitment that you followed through on, you teach yourself that:
- Discipline creates positive feelings.
- You have what it takes to get what you want.
- You control your career and set the trajectory for your life.
- You can trust yourself to make the most of the opportunities presented to you.
As a result, you start thinking differently. You believe in bigger and better outcomes. And because you regularly tap into these positive feelings of possibility and abundance, you’re more energized to chase down your biggest, boldest dreams.
Your willpower becomes stronger. And you start to see this energy reflected back to you by the people you lead.
The Risk of Ignoring the Wins
If that doesn’t convince you of the power of small wins, consider the flip side. Let’s look back at that one-and-only goal of doubling revenue in 2022.
What happens if December 31st rolls around and you haven’t accomplished that one goal?
The entire year feels like a loss, as if nothing you did mattered, because you failed to reach your only objective.
Now, you might have a really healthy perspective on failure. You may know exactly how to look for the lesson and strategize better for 2023. But how do you feel? Do you feel energized to go all in on your new goals? Or are you forcing yourself through the motions, weighed down by creeping doubts?
On the other hand, imagine you failed to double your revenue but you kept track of all your wins throughout the year. Even if it’s not the outcome you wanted, you have a very clear picture of how much growth you and your team are capable of in a year.
You saw new leadership emerge in your team. You personally developed new skills. You discovered new markets. This insight makes it so much easier to look forward to the next challenge with excitement. Instead of just “trying again,” you’re saying, “Great! Let’s see how far we can go now!”
Constantly Winning
The best part about the power of winning?
Every victory of your life can fuel your business goals. It doesn’t have to be a professional win.
If you made a plan to go to the gym after work and you followed through, that’s a victory. You got up fifteen minutes earlier every day for a week? Another win, another reminder of your ability to commit, evolve, and succeed.
I know it can be hard to give yourself credit for the (seemingly) small things. You’re an entrepreneur. You signed up for a tough road, and if you’re like a lot of business owners, you keep yourself tough by demanding the best from yourself and accepting no excuses.
That doesn’t have to change. In fact, counting your small wins is a great way to realize that you may even be able to set your high standards even higher.
So start today. There is a win in this day, I guarantee it. Maybe it’s a commitment you fulfilled, a challenge you met, an employee you inspired, a sale you made… something.
Whatever it is, write it down. Make it real.
And let it set your unstoppable cycle of success in motion.
Further Resources on This Topic
Blog Post: How to Build Good Habits That Actually Stick
Free Tool: Business Plan Wizard
Free Video Course: Accelerating Business Growth
Free Ebook: Career-Defining Goals: Strategies for Setting Better Objectives and Achieving More
Book: How to Transform Your Mindset and Become a Self-Made Success Story