Have you ever wondered what distinguishes high achievers from the rest? Is there a reason why some people soar while others fall? Certain people can indeed do great things despite adversity. For example, after losing several high-profile clients, some company’s revenues are still in the top 5% in the nation. In the face of shrinking resources, they may develop creative solutions to boost their department’s earnings. There is no doubt that most people would prefer to live above average. But for achievers, the term average seems to be distant from them and they are constantly failing forward. Being a winner simply means failing forward, and in this article, you will learn how to develop a winning mentality.

John Maxwell once told a story about developing a winning mindset from failing forward: I found out how failing forward became an integral part of my life in my first job. As the pastor in a small rural church, I worked very hard that first year. I did everything the people might expect of me and then some. But to be honest, I was as concerned about getting everyone to like me as I was with helping people.

In the type of church I led, the people voted to decide whether to allow the leader to keep his job each year. And many of the leaders I knew over the years loved to brag about the unanimous affirming votes they received from their people. So my expectations were high as I prepared to receive my first unanimous vote. Imagine my surprise when the votes came back 31 yeses, 1 no, and 1 abstention.

After the vote, I was devastated. I went home that night; I called my father, who was a veteran pastor, former district superintendent in the denomination, and college president. “Dad,” I lamented, “I can’t believe it. I worked so hard for those people. I’ve done everything I can.” I was at the point of tears. “Somebody actually voted against me and wanted me to leave the church! And an abstention is as good as a no. Should I leave and go to another church?” I heard laughter on the other end of the phone to my shock.

“No, son, stay there,” my dad said as he chuckled. “That’s probably the best vote you’ll ever receive.” From that moment, I let loose the mindset that failure is the end of your life. Instead, I started seeing failure as a spring bud to become the best version of yourself and achieve greater height.

What is a Winning Mindset

A winner mindset is a mental attitude that predetermines a person’s response and interpretation of situations. Winning is more about how people choose to think than the circumstances they face. That means your self-confidence and ability to perceive failure as an opportunity for progress are enhanced when you approach life with a positive outlook and with a failing forward attitude.

Importance of a Winning Mentality

• Winning mentality makes it much easier to trust yourself, believe in your abilities, and take the risk of seeking to achieve your goals.
• If you fail in your attempt to achieve something great, a winning mentality gives you the confidence to try again.
• A winning mentality helps you to develop a failing forward approach. A failing forward approach is an approach that tackles problems regardless of the situation.
• Winning mentality makes you stronger, as those who do not have such mentality fear the results and are always anxious in their attempts to achieve success.
• A Winning mentality is a good state of mind that allows you to be attentive to the appearance of good opportunities and be proactive.
• Learning to acquire a winning mentality helps you transform yourself internally and by consequences, to transform your environment and reality.
• A person with a winning mentality has at least one of the following qualities, which positively influence the behavior and achievements that can be achieved:

1. Emotional stability
2. Ability to work in a team
3. Desire to excel in the activities carried out
4. Ability to take something positive out of the negative
5. The constant acquisition of new knowledge
6. He is persevering. It does not decline in the face of difficulties
7. Has clear goals
8. Demonstrates leadership skills
9. It seeks the common welfare. It’s not selfish

How to Develop a Winning Mentality

Here are the steps on failing forward and developing a winning mentality;

Develop Goal:

First, it is necessary to know your main objectives in life or in a specific area where you feel that you are not advancing. For this, it is good to write a list of possible goals so that you do not forget them after thinking about them for the first time. Then do a filtering exercise, crossing out the less important ones until leaving no more than 4 or 5. This will allow you to know your priorities and better understand where you want to point your development strategies in the medium and long term.

Eliminate Excuses:

The second step in building a winning mindset is examining your thoughts and learning to locate the excuses that keep you stuck. It is important to do this without pretending to be very lenient with yourself. If you have doubts, you can always ask for the opinion of trusted people to have a second opinion.

Get out of your comfort zone:

This is the most difficult step since it involves exposing yourself to stressful situations that bring you closer to your goals. It is good to find strategies to force yourself to follow a sequence of very clear and specific actions. Only in this will you not be able to justify yourself with convenient excuses because the guidelines of what you must do are so clear that there is no doubt as to whether you have done them or not.

Avoid Procrastination:

Procrastination, or “I will do it tomorrow syndrome,” is also a very common refuge among people stuck in their projects. That is why it is necessary to prevent its appearance by making all that matters for a moment is to do what you feel you should do.

Maintain the habit:

Once you have broken with the dynamics of immobility, it is much easier to continue moving forward, but you must also monitor what you do so as not to give up the project. It is good to think about the satisfaction produced by having overcome the previous difficulties. It is also necessary to continue programing and planning your actions in a sequence manner.

Be aware of your negativity

The first step to developing a winning mentality is to become aware of the content of your inner monologue. A majority of people are not even aware of being negative. If you start to get bored or anxious, then it’s already too late. Make sure you recognize what you are saying to yourself as soon as possible.

Restructure your thoughts:

Once you’ve stopped your negative thoughts, you need to restructure your thought. That is what failing forward is all about. It is about seeing things that impede you differently. A common example may be that you have to face superior opposition. To overcome the negative thought, you need to clearly state your advantages and keep repeating them to help you stay positive.

Conclusion

The only solution to failure is to keep failing forward. More importantly is to open your eyes, admit your mistakes, and accept complete responsibility for your current wrong actions and attitudes. Every failure you experience is a fork in the road. It’s an opportunity to take the right action, learn from your mistakes, and begin again.