Stop Whining and Start WINNING - 5 Secrets to Winning!

I must confess, I wouldn’t want to be the team that loses the Super Bowl and is seen weeping on the field. I want to be on the team that wins and hoists the trophy in the air! The team that gets the Gatorade bucket poured on their heads, and the team on the front cover of the New York Times with the caption, Champions!

Now I do understand the adage that you must lose sometimes, that losing provides invaluable life lessons. You have to lose to get better, and you have to lose to truly appreciate winning. I understand that, and I totally believe it, but the fact is, losing sucks.

What losing does for me is drive me like crazy to win, to succeed, and to form the best of the best team in order to win and succeed, especially in business! Winning is fun! Who doesn’t like to win? Winning unleashes positive endorphins like dopamine and serotonin, which have significant impact on our motivation, productivity and overall well being! Winning is good for your health!

So how can you take the euphoric state of “Winning” and channel it for your business success?

Here are my 5 Secrets to Winning:

1. Be Obsessed

I cannot stress this enough, you must prepare, prepare, prepare and know your stuff. Whether it’s a pitch to a client or a product launch to your team, you must know everything you could possibly know about it and be prepared to answer questions on the fly. If you aren’t prepared, don’t show up!

2. Be Real

Being authentic means being genuine and original. Just be yourself, show people who you are and what makes you awesome! Authentic is being true and trustworthy. Without authenticity, everything else will fail – that’s right, WILL fail. Trust takes months, sometimes years, to build and can break in one conversation. People ultimately want to partner with people they like and, more importantly, trust.

3. Ultra Focus:

Get laser clear on what winning and success look like to you. Define success before looking to achieve it. Success may mean signing the offer on a new building, or achieving that promotion, or getting the big contract. Once you’ve established what it looks like, envision yourself achieving it. Many athletes envision themselves crossing the finish line prior to the start of the race, setting themselves up to win. Stay there and play that scene over and over again in your mind… then go for it!

4. Be Nice:

Gary Vaynerchuk shares this perfectly in his recent book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.

I’m a firm believer before you have the right to ask for anything… an order, a promotion, or even someone’s time, you must first come from a position of giving. I’ve had numerous people call me out of the blue hitting me with hard “ASK’s”, wanting to sell me things like insurance and consulting services to name a few. But what have they given? Before approaching anyone, GIVE your time and show you care! GIVE value and nuggets up front, and GIVE praise and thanks at the very least.

5. Surprise and Delight:

I think people forget the art of presenting! The fact is, people get pitched all day and twice on Sundays. Aim to WOW ’em! Whatever it may be, your first job interview, your first public speaking event, your bid pitch to one of the 3 majors – ask yourself, what have you prepared in your deck or in your communication that will leave them WOWed? Is it your due diligence on the company history? Is it your amazing visuals and videos? Is it your vulnerability and authenticity? Ask yourself this, if I was listening to what you had to say, would I be WOWed? Or better yet, would you WOW your best friend with what you have? Don’t go easy on yourself; aim to WOW!!!

Do you love winning? Do you love the euphoric feeling of success? Do you love the freedom and the excitement? Of course you do! So what are you waiting for?! Try out one of my five secrets and let me know how it works for you!

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