A winning mindset is an important element of success – in business, in life and in gambling. It takes significant focus and drive, alongside a positive attitude and good habits, to achieve success. “Can-do” people believe in their dreams and their ability to actualize them, learn from their mistakes and show up every day.
Whether your respective field is online poker, in a boardroom or on a racing track, it’s crucial to nurture your mentality as much as you practice your skills, by living according to your core values, thinking long-term, and developing patience, perseverance and determination.
So, what do the best of the best have in common? What habits, beliefs and attitudes do they adopt to achieve success in their chosen field and lead fulfilling lives? What’s the mentality of winners, and how can you develop it? Let’s take a look!
Set yourself goals
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goals are the actions you take to achieve your dreams. Each goal is a step toward the actualization of your ultimate vision. When you have a clear idea of where you’re going, your goals become the clearly defined action steps that lead you to the fulfillment of your dreams.
Winners can be distinguished from those who live in mediocrity by the fact that they have goals, and that they work, each and every day, to achieve them. Goals provide clarity, focus and drive. When you see the bigger picture, ask yourself, “How am I going to get there?,” and “What do I have to do to make this a reality?” The answer to these questions will become the tangible goals that you set for yourself.
Your goals should be clearly defined. They should be challenging, but they should also be achievable. They should contribute to the quality of your days, and inspire you. If you feel uninspired to achieve your goals, they’re either unrealistic… or not great enough. If they feel too overwhelming, break them down into smaller action steps, and then gradually build them up. Goals should also have a general timeline, otherwise they are merely wishes. However, the timeline should serve as a target, and the focus should be on continuous progress, rather than just achievement, which can often lead to impatience and frustration.
Winners do at least one thing each day – however small – to contribute to the achievement of their goals and dreams, and so should you.
Value success and failure
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
There are valuable lessons in both failure and success. When one is committed to progress, success is inevitable. Dwelling on losses and wanting to quit wastes valuable time that could be spent understanding where you went wrong, working on your shortcomings and adjusting your game plan with the wisdom and experience you gathered through your prior attempts. Even the most successful people have met with failure – from Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high-school basketball team because of his “lack of skill,” to Thomas Edison, whose teachers told him he was “too stupid to learn anything” and Walt Disney, who was fired from his job at a newspaper because he “lacked imagination.” Everyone fails from time to time, but it’s the winners who get back up and try again.
Those with a winner’s mentality have a long-term approach, which means minor failures are seen as learning curves rather than mini disasters or the end of the road. Of course, success isn’t final either – rather, it’s a sign that you’re doing good work, going in the right direction and that you should keep on going. Success builds confidence and momentum, which allows you to grow continuously and gives you the opportunity to refuel and reignite your passion.
Both failure and success are valuable as they both serve, in their own ways, to strengthen us, to increase our capacity and willingness to work hard, and in doing so, to develop the self-belief necessary to accomplish anything.
Be consistent
“Success favors the dedicated.” ― Wesam Fawzi
Intentional habits are the groundwork of success. While the excitement may be for the match, the game or the “big day,” it’s the work that happens behind the scenes, in your daily rituals and routine, that determines the outcome of an event – be it an online poker tournament or business endeavor. As motivational speaker and businessman Anthony Robbins says, “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it’s what we do consistently.”
While motivation may wane and inspiration can be erratic, discipline is required to consistently show up and do the work, whether you feel like it or not. Whether that means never missing a scheduled workout or reading a chapter each day to learn a new skill, consistent effort is the surest way to grow, develop and evolve. Putting in the effort every day is also key to developing the integrity and self-trust necessary for longtime success.
Check your attitude
“Excellence is not a skill, it’s an attitude” – Ralph Marston
Your attitude determines how you handle setbacks and how you harness successes. It determines how you perceive what happens, as well as how others perceive you. Winners know the importance of a healthy, positive attitude. A poor approach to life makes everything intolerable, where a healthy attitude can make the best out of anything.
Consider playing online casino games – a bad attitude is bound to take the fun out of it for everyone involved, and the wins just aren’t as satisfying if you didn’t enjoy the game itself. A winning attitude however, means that no matter what happens, you enjoy the ride, and you’re better for it.
It’s important to choose what attitude you’ll employ each and every day. Eventually, your way of thinking becomes habitual, and that can either help or hinder your efforts. A common attribute among the most successful people – those who are masters at their craft, and are living passionate and fulfilling lives – is a constructive attitude. These people believe in themselves, believe in their work and believe in their ability to achieve what is important to them, for the greater good of all.
Give it your all
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
If you consider just how incredibly hard athletes have to train to be successful in their field, or how many years of practice it takes to make the greatest poker players, you wouldn’t for a second believe that winning comes easy. Both failure and success are tough, but when you give it your all, the outcome becomes less important than the character you develop along the way.
Winners have a growth mindset. They practice relentlessly, they are always trying to learn and improve, and growth is more important to them than achieving any particular milestone. Knowing that life’s a marathon, not a sprint allows them to give it their all, each day, and trust in (and enjoy) the process.
As American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
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