Don't Stop Until You Win

No one likes to lose. We all want to win. As I think about winning and what it takes to "make the cut," I can't help but think about the life of Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier. Poitier, born in Miami during a visit by his Bahamian parents, who traveled there to sell tomatoes and other produce, grew up in the Bahamas until he was 15 years old. At the age of 15, Poitier was sent to live with his brother in Miami but moved to New York when he was 17 years old. He later joined the American Negro theatre but got rejected by audiences due to his thick Bahamian accent. Poitier's passion for winning resulted in him spending the next six months learning American English, and at the end of the six months auditioned again and was accepted. As a result of this "don't stop until you win" attitude, Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for best actor. Like Sidney Poiter, you can win if you follow these three simple principles.

Plan to win

Planning is very foundational to succeeding in life. This approach to winning involves formulating a vision of the future you hope to create. Your vision will then lead you to set goals and develop strategies to achieve them. So if you want to win, you have got to create a plan. As T. Harv Eker puts it, "The number one reason most people don't get what they want is because they don't know what they want."

Prepare to win

To prepare means to equip yourself with the skills you need to achieve your goals. Preparation involves finding the right tools, the relevant information, and the right support system that will help to turn your dream into reality. 

Commit to win (accountability)

Being a winner doesn't happen by accident; you have got to want it. As a matter of fact, "if you gonna be, you got to wanna be." Wanting to win, though, is not enough; it is just the desire to get started. You have got to move from the desire to win to being committed to winning. Therefore, committing to winning means devoting yourself unreservedly to the task of getting the job done. It means not holding anything back - no excuses, no buts, no ifs, no maybes - it means giving 100 percent of you to achieving your goal.

Like Poitier, don't stop till you win, for you can win, will win, must win, but you must first plan to win, prepare to win, commit to win because you were born to win.