WINNERS VS. LOSERS

The Winner    Is always a part of the answer
The loser        Is always a part of the problem

The Winner    Always has a program
The Loser        Always has an Excuse

The Winner     Says  "Let me do it for you"
The Loser        Says "Thats not my job"

The Winner    Sees an answer for every problem
The Loser        Sees a problem in every answer

The Winner     Sees a green near every sand trap
The Loser        Sees two or three sand traps near every green

The Winner    Says "It may be difficult but it's possible"
The Loser        Says "It may be possible but it's too difficult"

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong;"
When a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."

A winner works harder than a loser and has more time;
A loser is always "too busy" to do what is necessary.

A winner goes through a problem:
A loser goes around it, and never gets pat it.

A winner makes commitments;
A loser makes promises.

A winner says, "I'm good, but not as good as I ought to be;"
A loser says, "I'm not as bad as a lot of other people."

A winner listens;
A loser just waits until it's his turn to talk.

A winner respects those who are superior to him and tries to learn something from them;
A loser resents those who are superior to him and tries to find chinks in their armor.

A winner feels responsible for more than his job;
A loser says, "I only work here."

A winner says, "There ought to be a better way to do it;"
A loser says, "That's the way it's always been done here."

YOU

You cannot bring about prosperity

by discouraging thrift.

You cannot strengthen the weak

by weakening the strong.

You cannot help the wage earner

by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot further the brotherhood of

man by encouraging class hatred.

You cannot help the poor

by discouraging the rich.

You cannot establish sound security

by spending more than you earn.

You cannot build character and

courage by taking away man's

initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently

by doing for them what they could

and should do for themselves.

-Abraham Lincoln-

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR OF SUCCESS

Like most of us, I had been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of success is hard work, but I had seen so many men work hard without succeeding and so many men succeed without working hard that  had become convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements.

And so I set out on a voyage of dscovery which carried me through biographies and autobiographies and all sorts of dissertations on success and the lives of successful men until I finally reached a point at which I realized that the secret I was trying to discover lay not only in what men did, but also in what made them do it.

I realized further that the secret for which I was searching must not only apply to every definition of success, but that it must apply to everyone who had ever been successful.  In short, I was looking for the common denominator of success.

And because that is exactly what I was looking for, that is exactly what I found.

But this common denominator of success is so big, so powerful, and so vitally important to your future and mine that I'm not going to make  a speech about it.  I'm just going to "lay it on the line" in words of one syllable, so simple that everyone can understand them.

"The common denominator of success-the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful-lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."

It's just as true as it sounds and it's just as simple as it seems.  You can hold it up to the light, you can put it to the acid test, and you can kick it around until it's worn out, but when you are all through with it, it wll still be the common denominator of success, whether we like it or not.

If the secret of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do, let's start the boiling-down process by determining what are the things that failures don't like to do.

The things that failures don't like to do are the very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful men, naturally don't like to do.  In other words, we've got to realize right from the start that success is something which is ac hieved by the minority of men, and is therefore unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes nor by being guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.

Perhaps you have been discouraged by a feeling that you were born subject to certain dislikes peculiar to you, with which the successful individuals are not afflicted.  Perhaps you have wondered why it is that the most successful seem to like to do the things that you don't like to do.

They don't!  And I think this is the most encouraging statement I have ever offered to a group of individuals.

But if they don't like to do these things, then why do they do them?  Because by doing the things they don't like to do, they can accomplish the things they want to accomplish.  Successful individuals are influenced by the desrire for pleasing results.  Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do.

Why are successful individuals able to do things they don't like to do while failures are not?  Because successful individuals have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don't like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish .
 

DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR TRYING TO WIN

After you've worked to develop you character, after you've spent the long hours practicing to get your edge, after you've brought yourself to a mental and a physcical peak, you find out.  You step onto the field, the court or the mat and you find out who the winner is-you or the guy staring you in the eye.

Don't be afraid to be a winner.  Win with class, win with character.  You've worked hard, you've paid the price and you deserve to win.  You can fight like the devil to win and still have class.  the harder you fight, the more you try to win, the more people will respect you.

Get used to competition because you'll be competing all your life.  In school, you compete for grades.  In business, you'll be competing to make the sale.

Don't let people convince you that winning insports is not important, that grades aren't important or that making the sale is not important.  If you don't have hour share of victgorie, you won't be on the team for very long.  If your goal is to get into graduate school, you had better plan on getting your share of A's.  and if you want to keep your job, you better make a sale now and then.  Nice tries and great efforts don't buy many groceries in the real world.

Another reason why winning is so important is that success will help you to maintain your enthusiasm.  How long will you remain excited about your sport if you go out each week and get beat?  Without enthusiasm, you are likely to work less than you should and you are likely to lose again.  Losing is a tough habit to break.