Eric P. Butts

THE Career Site for Accountants and Consultants.

  • Home
  • About
  • Useful Resources
  • Articles
  • Work With Me
    • Breakthrough Resume Writing
    • How to Get Smart in Excel…Fast!
    • Corporate Ladder University (Book)
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Disclaimer
  • Login
You are here: Home / Career Advice / Cultivating Your Will To Win

December 19, 2015 by Eric Butts Leave a Comment

Cultivating Your Will To Win

 

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.

Filed Under: Career Advice Tagged With: inspiration, motivation

About Eric Butts

I’m a management consultant, MBA and CPA who has a passion for helping others in their career pursuits. Grab my FREE cheatsheet on 12 simple habits of highly successful consultants.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Featured Posts

What Does It Mean to Have a Sense of Urgency?

How Bad Can It Hurt To Say Thank You?

The Best and Worst Thing About Management Consulting

5 Ways to Influence Gatekeepers Who Want Nothing to Do with You

How The First Rule of Fight Club Helped Me Cope With So Much Business Travel

Popular Posts

  • 5 Reasons You Should Be Proud to Ask Dumb Questions at Work
  • What Does It Mean to Have a Sense of Urgency
  • Always Stay Close to the Gatekeepers
  • Why Are There Still So Few Black CPAs?
  • What's the Difference Between FP&A and Accounting?
  • 3 Reasons Average Students Become Good Accountants
  • One Thing You Should Never Do on Linkedin
  • How to Handle Double Standards in the Workplace
  • How to Pass the CPA Exam Without Breaking the Bank
  • Masters in Accounting Isn't The Sweet Treat Some Students Think

Recent Posts

  • How To Customize A LinkedIn Invite From Your Phone
  • Weird non-flex but ok
  • The little video game that could is putting on a masterclass in marketing yourself by picking a fight with two juggernauts
  • Today’s message is brought to you by middle of the night confusion
  • This. Is. Sparta!
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Disclaimer

© 2012–2021 Eric P. Butts