Play to win versus play not to lose

Several years ago, Tony Robbins asked me to give a 2-hour talk to his 90 salespeople during his annual sales meeting. Because they were highly trained people selling Tony’s products and seminars, I remember asking myself, “What can I share with them that he hasn’t taught them?” I decided to share with them the difference between playing to win vs. playing not to lose

A lot of people are doing exactly that: playing not to lose vs. playing to win during these changing times. In fact, if you feel like the recession has hit you anyway, I’d venture to say you may be playing not to lose and missing out on the incredible opportunities that come along when we play to win. The ride is much more fun when we play to win!

Here’s how to play to win vs. Playing not to lose:

You must redefine your definition of winning and losing. Many experts say that we are not going through a recession, but rather we are entering a new era of how we do business and how we live our lives. That IMHO is very good news! However, it requires that we redefine the rules of success and the rules of failure. Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” As more and more Americans become entrepreneurs, the rules for running your own small business are rapidly evolving. If you find that your business isn’t growing like it did before in the game, or running out much faster, or making more revenue each year, read on…

Are you avoiding fear or avoiding risk? If she answered yes, then she is playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Henry David Thoreau wisely said, “Most people live lives of quiet despair and go to their graves with the song still in them.” It is part of human nature to feel safe in a certain comfort zone. We value that life is largely predictable. We value uniformity, structure, stability and security. However, too many of these qualities and our lives become stagnant. By trying to maintain our comfort zone to feel safe, we actually begin to reduce it. The same applies in business. Unless we get out of our comfort zone by taking risks, learning new things, trying new adventures, we will get stuck. Avoiding fear in our lives and businesses begins to reduce our comfort zone. Until we decide to stretch, our comfort zone will continue to shrink over time, resulting in failure and unhappiness in our lives. It is healthy and natural to rest from time to time. However, it is important to remember that when sailing along the coast, we are always going downhill! Here is a hint: if we are not playing to the maximum, then we are not playing to win, but not to lose. This week, ask yourself, “What risks am I avoiding in my life or business?”

Is your business thriving or just surviving in these times? I hear so many entrepreneurs say, “I just want to get through this economic time.” His thoughts are about surviving, his goal is not to thrive. Surviving is playing not to lose; setting the intention to drive even now is playing to win. The difference between surviving this year or thriving is directly related to whether we choose to play not to lose or play to win!

Playing to win means NO EXCUSES! Playing to win means deciding that you will attract and achieve exactly what you want this year, no matter what! It means choosing to create a life and a business that you are driving this year. Playing to win means choosing to believe that you can make more money this year; refusing to quit smoking; refuse to think that you are limited in any way by external factors. Playing to win means you know this may be your best year yet, and it’s not too late to take advantage of it and achieve whatever big, exciting goals you’ve put on hold, thus far.

Playing to win means being comfortable with uncertainty – for many people these are uncertain times. If we allow external factors to decide our certainty, we feel powerless to control situations. We are like a ship buffeted on the high seas without a rudder to guide us. When we change our beliefs to say, “I am confident that I can succeed no matter what happens because I know what my priorities are and I will pursue what I value most in life,” we now have a rudder to steer our ship no matter what the situation. threatens to throw us out there. We enjoy an inner certainty that cannot be shaken no matter what happens in the outside world.

It’s so much more fun, actually easier and just as rewarding when we play to win in the game of life — vs. playing not to lose

Here we wish you great success and fulfillment!

Carolyn McCormick