Achieving success is a long journey. Winners understand that the starting point of any achievement is in their minds.

I don’t believe the idea that says “if you believe it’ll happen, it’ll happen” because that’s a false narrative told by society. I am however claiming that if you want to win, you need to build a winning mindset for the challenging road success requires.

This winning mindset is what allows leaders the ability to rebound from setbacks, continually grow, and seemingly be unwavering in their commitment to succeeding. 

Just like your skills, a Winning Mindset isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you intentionally build every day.

Here are four ways you can build your own Winning Mindset every day:

1. OUTWORK YOUR TALENT.

Talent is what you’re born with. Effort is choice of what you will give. Most of us use “talent” as the excuse to why we’re not succeeding. It’s our way of absolving our own actions and responsibility from the equation.

But as great as talent is, Angela Duckworth points out in GRIT that our effort is TWICE as important. Talent may be nice to have, but every day talented people are passed by less-talented people who give better effort.

If you want to build a winning mindset, commit that you’ll outwork your talent. That means no matter how talented you think you are/aren’t, you’ll show up and give your best efforts every time. Work harder than what you think you need to.

2. CREATE YOUR OWN MOMENTUM.

Most of us wait to feel motivated before we take action. Someone with a Winning Mindset will take action first, knowing that the true key to motivation is that it comes after we start making moves.

There are two ways to create your own momentum:

1. Commit to yourself that you’ll take action even when you don’t feel like it.

2. Don’t miss two days in a row. Put a calendar on your fridge and reward yourself with a giant “X” every day that you take action toward your goal. Make sure that you never have to “Blank” days in a row. If you miss a day, commit that you’ll not miss the next.

3. BUILD A VISION FOR THE LONG-GAME.

The road to success is a long-game that most don’t have the guts to play. A Winning Mindset is when we continually make progress each day toward that goal. Instead of allowing ourselves to be distracted by how far we have to go or how much work we have left to do, choose to instead focus on what you’re going to do today. 

We don’t control tomorrow or yesterday, but we 100% control our attitude, efforts, and actions today. We remain motivated when only focus on what we control in the present, and take action toward it.

This repeated focus on today allows us to keep moving forward in the long-game instead of giving up after realizing what we want to do is going to take more time than we expected.

A winning mindset also says that like #2, we take action every day, even when we’re not motivated because our vision is focused on what’s important in the big picture instead of how we feel in the immediate.

4. DO YOUR BEST, EVERY TIME.

Show up and do your best:

• When you’re not motivated
• When you’re tired
• When you’re not happy with what position you’re in
• When your boss has been a pain in the ass
• When things outside of your control are on fire

Show up and do your best with what you control – your attitude, effort and actions. Train yourself to repeatedly choose a good attitude despite the circumstances you’re currently in. Train yourself to choose to give 100% effort, even when it’s not a job you want to be doing. Train yourself to choose to take action to the best of your ability every time.

IT’S ABOUT OUR CHOICES.

A Winning Mindset won’t show up overnight – but it will show up over time with the right choices. Focus on these four key points above and align your choices with them so that you are one choice closer to becoming a Competitor with the Winning Mindset you desire.

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