#156 How To Know If You’re WINNING In Life

How do you know if you’re winning in life? It’s Easier in sports where there’s a scoreboard, but even that isn’t always reflective of true winning. You might lose the game but still be winning in personal improvements, performance, effort, giving your best, sportsmanship, integrity, grit, etc What about each of the areas of your life? How do you know if you’re winning? Do you have a scoreboard? Are you keeping score? In what ways? Are you trying to compete with others or with yourself, or with an ideal? Some are not keeping score at all. They have no idea how they’re doing. They don’t think about it; they don’t measure it; they’re so distracted, or unconscious, or in survival mode, or on autopilot, that they have no clear picture of how they’re doing. Some are even against keeping score at all. They may not like the idea of tracking, measuring, or scoring. You can’t master what you don’t measure! I’m choosing to win as a man! As a man. That includes several roles. I’m not trying to only win in business. That would be a loss to me as a man. I’m not trying to win only as a husband or father. That too would be a loss to me as a man. So I will necessarily “lose” on other people’s scoreboards. Some will see me as average in their field. That’s okay with me. I’m keeping score differently. Stop getting caught up in other peoples scoreboards. Stop living and measuring your work and life by other people’s scoreboards. Create your own scoreboard, or you will always be measuring yourself against other people’s scoreboards. This is one reason why you often see epic failures that seem to come out of nowhere. They were trying to win on other people’s scoreboards. What does Winning look like in each of those roles? What what does losing look like in each of those roles? It’s impossible for you to win if you’re not clear what winning looks like. —Creating your own scoreboard. It will require time, effort, research, discernment, and wisdom. Wisdom is not easily won. You will want to read from the greatest religious texts of all time, to study the lives and teachings of the best men who have ever lived. You will want to carefully analyze incomes and outcomes, and the ultimate results of their lives. The last thing you want to do in life is try to win on the wrong scoreboard. That’s like climbing the proverbial ladder that’s leaning against the wrong wall. Nor do you want to avoid being wrong so much that you never establish any scoreboard at all. You can’t wait until you’re 90 and you’ve had all that life experience to make your scoreboard either. So we are left to make the best decisions we can right now and improve them as we go. Fortunately, there are loads of great books. Unfortunately, there are also loads of trash books filled with really stupid ideas and really bad advice. And not just books. Blogs, podcasts, and posts abound with some of the worst advice ever uttered by human beings. I saw a genuine question posted in a FB group for men from a gentleman who seemed to sincerely want to know how to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Some of the advice in the comments was genuinely the worst advice I have ever heard or seen. It was unbelievable. Take advice from people whose WHOLE life you would like to emulate. Otherwise you might embrace an idea from a financially successful man who is morally bankrupt or completely overdrawn in all his most important relationships.