Anatomy of a Winner

Winners are not people who never lose, for winners can lose but are never lost.

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Winners will decide to enter the arena of conflict by exercising courage. They have a worldview that does not allow them to sit in the arena and contemplate how outnumbered they are. They don’t focus on what could go wrong; they focus on the objective. The sole objective is ‘What is required here to succeed?’

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Winners embrace the struggle and, in their heart of hearts, believe that they will win. They expect to win, and because they expect to win, they often do. And even if they don’t win the particular struggle, they will see themselves as winners for simply having had the courage to walk into the arena against such odds. To lose is simply “research” to a winner. It’s one way tried that won’t work that can now be eliminated from their list of procedures to win. At each juncture it is about the positive, optimistic approach that turns likely failure into success.

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Some people believe it is dangerous to teach teenagers to expect the best out of life; and to ensure they don’t dream too high or hope too much. The fact is it’s boldness that is necessary for a full life. “Who dares wins” is the old catchcry. Some people will say, ‘what if I fail?’; ‘what if people laugh at me?’; ‘what if I make a fool of myself?’; you only make a fool of yourself by not believing in yourself.

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This brings in with it the key part of the anatomy of the winner; the mind. We need to get our young people to dig deeper than a superficial commitment to good and teach them how to ‘swim out into their destinies by confronting the deep issues of their thinking.’ It takes courage to do that. Courage that must come from hope, and that is possible through faith and love.

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© Copyright 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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Acknowledgement to Pastor Chris Hill’s book Grace-Based Youth Ministry.