“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” ~ Vince Lombardi
Beyond the Quote (70/365)
I disagree. In fact, I believe that winners actually quit more than those who lose. The difference is that they know what to quit, when to quit, how to quit, and have the courage and discipline to do so. Of course, Lombardi is likely referring to the idea that winners never quit in pursuit of their primary goal(s) in life and those who do quit in pursuit of their primary goal(s) will never win at them—this might be obvious.
If you’re a football player, for example, and you quit practicing or quit during a game—well, of course you’re going to lose! You can’t win if you quit playing the game. But this idea of never quitting isn’t only given to sports players during practice—it’s given to people who are playing the game of life too. And that’s a MUCH different game to play with infinitely more moving pieces to consider. When we’re talking about “winning” and “losing” in life, there’s a larger conversation to be had where Lombardi’s quote isn’t clear and can many times get misapplied and misused.
First, let’s talk about the idea of “winning” and “losing” at life. How do we even “win” at life? What is it that we’re trying to “win” at exactly? How do we get there? What should be our primary focus for achieving a “win?” Do we “win” at life by having more 0’s in our bank accounts? Do we “win” at life by becoming more popular and/or famous than everybody else? Do we “win” at life by traveling to more of the globe or checking more off of our bucket lists? Is life even a game that can be “won?”
These are all very personal questions that only you can truly define. My instinct is that life is best lived when you’re deeply caring for yourself and your own wellbeing, first (physical, mental, and spiritual health is the ultimate wealth); working to fulfill your life’s task, second (i.e. doing work that allows you to grow and contribute in ways that excites and fulfills you); caring for your closest inner circle of family, third (i.e. by spending quality time, engaging in meaningful conversations, having interesting experiences with them); caring and connecting with your next closest outer circle of friends/ family, fourth; and experimenting/ engaging with the unlimited opportunities and potential in life in whatever infinite ways that appeals to you, fifth.
Once you have your priorities laid out and you have figured out what type of game you’re playing, you can start to align your strategies and efforts with the proper moves that will get you to, well, “win.” You have to know the rules before you play the game, right?
Once you know the rules, then we can talk about how “quitting” can actually be a powerful strategy. The idea is that “winners” quit more of the stuff that distracts them from their primary goal(s) whereas “losers” don’t quit enough. In other words, winners are better at saying “no” to the stupid stuff whereas losers find themselves saying “yes” more often than they should.
f you agree that health is the ultimate wealth, for example, then I’m sure you agree that we should be spending time every day doing something that improves our wellbeing. You simply must reserve 20-60 minutes to fulfill this primary task at minimum every day! If not, then you better check your priorities and change the “rules” because, otherwise, you’re going to “lose” the game of health and that’s not a game that you ever want to lose.
Let’s move to the second level: doing work that fulfills your life’s task. If you spend more time saying “yes” to social media scrolling than you do saying “yes” to deep writing, for example, you’ll “lose” the deep thinking game. If you spend more time saying “yes” to Netflix than you do saying “yes” to reading and researching, then you’ll “lose” the mental development game. If you spend more time saying “yes” to checking email than you do focusing on and saying “yes” to completing important, deep work, then you’ll never produce your best work (and we need your work at its best).
The same is true for the third, forth, and fifth level too. If you say “yes” to too many distracting, unimportant, side tasks, then you’ll never be able to fulfill your main “yes” objectives. This is why you have to learn how to say “no.” This is why you have to learn how to “quit.” And this is why a “quitter,” indeed, can end up “winning” the most.
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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