Cultivating Your Will To Win

I don’t know about you, but there’s something about someone saying or implying I can’t reach a goal that I’ve set that really activates my “will to win”. 

Find success after turning down an offer to attend Stanford for undergrad?

Marry young and have kids soon after?

Pass the CPA exam on the first try without taking time off to study?

Get into one of the top business schools in the country and going while working full-time and starting a family halfway through the program?

Thrive in consulting despite introvert tendencies and an aversion to flying and having a newborn at home?

Check, check, check, check, and check.

You know what these events all have in common? First, I’d be a fool not to acknowledge that my wife has been there for all of it. She deserves as much, if not more, credit for the milestones I’ve been able to reach in my career.

The other thing was a will to win fueled by wanting to avoid any “I told you so” moments from naysayers.

Call it stubbornness, being petty, channeling negative energy for good, or whatever else you want, but this approach worked for me.

I even have a playlist of songs to remind me of that feeling if I’m feeling a little “blah” or going into an important or difficult meeting. I guess you could say it’s multipurpose…

Stories of Michael Jordan fabricating or over analyzing something an opponent said for bulletin board material to motivate teammates and himself are legendary.

My advice to cultivate your will to win?

Find what gets YOU fired up. The beauty of it is you don’t even have to tell anyone what it is.

Inspiration comes in many forms. Where you find yours doesn’t matter so much as the outcomes resulting from that drive.