Most of us have heard a variation of the popular Vince Lombardi quote:
"Winners never quit and quitters never win."
While that meme may have worked back in the mid 20th century when the world was very different, it’s not so relevant today.
Winners actually quit all the time, and here’s seven specific ways those quitters win:
- Quit holding on to the past. Mistakes. Coulda-shoulda-wouldas and the like are barriers keeping you from moving forward. Let go of what has already come and gone.
- Quit thinking you can’t do something. I get it. These days with the prevalence of online everything, it’s easy to compare ourselves to everyone else who seems to be doing so much better than we are in every category imaginable (e.g. health, wealth, relationship, career). Believe me, everyone is struggling in one way or another. You can do things if you decide those things are what you want, even if it seems scary or impossible. Do them anyway.
- Quit watching so much television/Netflix/sports/porn. See #6.
- Quit waiting for someone to give you permission. No one is coming to rescue you. No one is coming to say, “Hey, you’re the one we desperately need!” As Jim Rohn loved to say, “For things to change, you have to change.” That includes picking yourself to be the next whatever it is you want to be.
- Quit putting yourself down. Negative self-talk is the bane of human existence. The sooner you quit going dark on yourself, the sooner you will experience the spoils of the winner’s circle.
- Quit turning to over eating/drinking/shopping/gambling to escape from facing the truth about your life. They are tempting. At every turn, something promises to take away the pain of being human. The question here is, do you want to go through life numb and dumb? Or are you willing to accept that cuts, scrapes and bruises come with achievement and excellence?
- Quit thinking you can do it all yourself. You can’t. No one can. Figure out what you do best and hire the rest. This can be applied at work and at home. A predominantly DIY culture grounded in two very powerful principles called self-reliance and independence makes us believe we are losers if we can’t announce at the next dinner party that we did it all ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be handing out business cards of my caterer than rushing around trying to restock the crudite plate or refill wine glass.
Quitters win every day. You can often see them sipping champagne from their yachts as they sail yet again around the Mediterranean.
Isn’t it about time you stepped into the quitter's circle, too? Quit something today! It's amazing what can happen when you do.
Follow PYP on Twitter
Become a PYP MVP