The Habit of Winning & Losing [Part 2 of 2]

As I was lying in bed, trying to relax from having over worked one day [and suffering from a headache no less], I decided to watch something I thought was a very light, funny, crazy movie called “Get a Job.” I was very surprised to have learned something from it and wanted to share.

I guess there’s always lessons we can learn around us from things, events, situations, movies, songs, etc.. Sometimes, we learn from them in the most surprising moment, like for me, while I was having a really horrible headache, but either way, a learning experience, nonetheless. Fortunately for me, I get to share this learning moment with you.

The gist of this movie is this: Five characters recently graduated college. Three of them have a job, one is trying to look for an investor for his new app, while the main character is looking for a stable job which he found later on yet very unhappy in it while in search of his dream. All while they maneuver life through the ups and downs of their jobs and life, they learn some very valuable lessons in which I believe are quite remarkable.

These are my takeaways from it.

#1 No More trophies.

One of the characters in the movie was coaching a children’s basketball team that lost the season, and despite so, were given trophies. Participation trophies. Although they did receive those trophies, you can see the defeated look on the children’s faces and their coach can sympathize with them. He then told them “no more trophies.”

The coach shared how when he was younger, he kept getting participation trophies his entire childhood and he has an entire wall of losing medals and trophies and it didn’t lead him to anything. He didn’t want the children to end up the same way he is.

To me, he was teaching the children to no longer settle on losing, but to raise up and become better. He wanted to guide the children to become better players, to win, to actually earn real trophies that they can be proud of.

Lesson: Habits are a learned behavior. Our behaviors are formed as early as when we are children, and when we continue these behaviors, they turn into habits. These habits can either be good habits or bad habits. And those habits can either make us winners or losers.

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#2 Life is tough out there, no doubt.

Yes, life is tough, and whoever says otherwise, might be living under a rock, so to speak.

But there are things that we can do to ease these challenges by making simple changes that could make a huge impact in the future. That’s all it takes. Small simple steps to take today to succeed.

For example, I have this friend who wanted to lose weight. She started by getting this 64ounce water bottle to make sure she drinks 8 glasses of water a day. She then used her lunch break at work to take a 30-minute walk every day. It took about a year, but she lost 60 pounds, no longer fits any of her clothes, she looks amazing, and she feels a lot better about herself. She is so proud of herself and her success that by only taking those simple steps, drinking water and walking, she achieved so much.

Our point here is, she took small steps a day, to see a huge difference in a year. Yes, you may not see a change in a day, in a week, in a month. Even in 90 days you may only see small progress, but if you keep at it, be consistent with your progress, you will keep seeing more and more results.

Patience is also key. We have to stop with this need for instant gratification. We can’t have what we want with a snap of a finger. We can’t expect to have results in a day or a week. Progress takes time. Like training for a marathon takes time and dedication. Wanting to be an Olympic gold medalist takes sacrifice, perseverance, broken bones, time away from family and friends. Even your career takes years to build and develop. It sometimes means going back to school, constantly learning, training, to climb that corporate ladder to be the manager, director, vice president, president, and finally the CEO.

#3 Never Stop Believing. 

For a lot of us, it is hard to begin something because we think of excuses and reasons why we couldn’t, like, oh it’s too hard, this the way I am, it’s out of my way, I don’t have time, or I can’t do it.  

The real question is, are you able to do it or you don’t want to? 

The thing is, don’t let who you are today, your background, your current habits, your excuses, the things you’ve done in the past stop you from becoming who you want to be.  

Believe in what you want. Believe in yourself. Let it happen.  

No one became a success at anything, overnight. Stop comparing yourself to others. Focus on today. On right now. Focus on what you can do today to make yourself better, even if it’s one small step, one pushup, one bite of salad, one flight of stairs, one minute of meditation, one page in a book, one line in your journal, one yoga position. So long as you consistently do it every day. That’s one step closer to something.

Imagine in a week. That’s 7 extra steps you made more than last week. 7 more pushups. 7 bites of salad. 7 flights of stairs. 7 minutes of meditation. 7 pages of a book. 7 lines in your journal. Yoga done 7 times. Did you just see what happened here? That’s 7 steps towards a goal, and that’s progress. 7 small steps towards something you did consistently. And it started with 1. Just 1. See the change now? All it took was one.

Believe in what you are capable of. Don’t look at others. Don’t compare yourself to where others are. That someone could have started their steps three months ago, while you just started last week. There is no comparison at all and by comparing yourself, you will just get discouraged. So again, stop comparing. Focus on yourself. Your own improvement. All you need to do is to show up every day and do it every single day. And one day, you will get there.

Conclusion

Habits are a learned behavior. Whether these behaviors will lead us to victory or to defeat is up to us. It is a choice. The key is consistency. If we must change or improve our habits to become the better version of ourselves, then let’s do it. Let’s stand up, take that first step, and do it. Be patient, consistent, determined in what we want to achieve and one day, we will all accomplish what we first feared we couldn’t do.

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