To Win you have to Try

If I had never logged some books on my library’s website, I would never have won a gift card. If I had never called the radio station, I would never have won a free trip to Florida. If I had not chatted with a talented artist at her shop, discovered she needed video work done, and had not presumptuously mentioned to her that I did that and would like to work with her, I would never have a dream client.

To win, you HAVE to try. You HAVE to be in the game. Yes, you might lose and yes, at some point you WILL lose. And it may hurt. But no one is going to come up to you without preamble and say “You’ve won!” or “You’re a success!”. In Seth G0din’s words, it’s probably unlikely that you will be “picked”. But you can pick yourself, by playing the game. To win, you have to play.

While watching sports, you can sit on your couch and identify (arbitrarily) with a team, then joyously proclaim, “we won!” without having to exert any effort besides pick the winning team. No risk, no worry, no shame.

It doesn’t work like that here.

From the couch, you’re safe. It’s scary to play. To go out and face the risk of failure. But you’re never going to win from the couch. And “not losing” is NOT “winning.”

I’ve lost. I’ve lost raffles. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost clients. I’ve lost contests. I’ve lost money. I’ve lost competitions. It hurts, yes, but the only way to move on is to move forward.

You can’t steer a parked car. It doesn’t matter if you turn the car on and start going the wrong way, once it’s moving, you can turn it around or go anywhere. Start playing, start losing, but also, start winning. Start today.