By: D. A. Slinkard
This article brings us to the letter “W” and our word is “Winning,” and just like that we are in the month of December with the year 2023 fast approaching. The new year is right around the corner, and we are about to turn the final page of 2022. How has your year been for you? Have you been able to achieve what you set out to do? Do you find yourself hitting the targeted mark or are you like so many other people and missing out on the success you would like to achieve?
It has been my experience that too often we decide to make changes in our lives, but we decide we are going to start on Monday, or two weeks from now, or even at the beginning of next year. This thought process sounds good in theory, but it only becomes a form of procrastination which will ultimately lead to us getting the same old results. For success in life, I believe we need to have a winning mentality with the focus on giving 100%. The reality is that too many people do not have the right mentality and even fewer people are willing to give 100% in life.
It is as if we want success, but instead of working for it, we want it to be handed to us. I am reminded of the quote which states, “The only place ‘success’ comes before ‘work’ is in the dictionary.” If you want success, it will take work. No work means no success. We live in a society that is accustomed to instant gratification. If we have to wait any length of time for something, many people begin to wonder whether or not it is truly worth it.
Any great thing in life is worth waiting for and is worth working for — and I believe there are three types of people in our society. We have the defeated, the disheartened, and the devoted. To have a winning attitude, a person is going to need to learn how to get to the latter approach of being devoted. We have far too many people walking around with a defeated attitude trying to figure out what is the next thing that is going to go wrong for them.
These are the people who have given up before they have even started, and if they were to start, they are already expecting to lose. When it comes to our daily living, we need to expect to win, and we need to expect to have success. Instead, we have a society who feels entitled to get things they have not earned. No one owes me anything; no one else owes you anything; the only person that owes you anything is yourself! We live in the greatest country known to man and we need to have the victor (winning) attitude and not the victim approach.
It is easy to feel like a victim in the world we live in, but this attitude and approach is not the right one to have. People can easily become disheartened if we try to look at the world in a manner that victimizes people. I was 15 years old when my dad died; I was 17 years old when my mom left me to live on my own. I do not say this for you to feel sorry for me. I say this because life should not be dictated by circumstances, but life should be dictated by the choices we make. I could have chosen to be disheartened and defeated, but instead I decided each day to be devoted to having a winning approach.
When I say I am devoted, it means I am committed to have a winning attitude and approach to life. Do I get down? Absolutely, but negative things happening to us are only temporary. The issues in my life I have found are 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I allow it to impact me. Will you decide to be devoted to success in your life?
This year is almost over, and we cannot get the previous days back. We can only change today and our future. What approach are you going to take? Are you going to allow for your circumstances to dictate whether you are the victim or whether you are the victor in your life? The choice is yours to make, and no one else can decide for you. When will you commit to success?
By: D. A. Slinkard
December 20, 2024
