2. A winner maintains a White Belt Mentality. Winners keep an open mind and learn what you can from anyone you can. They don’t write off people who might not be “on their level.”
3. A winner knows his/her values and prioritizes them. Winners know what’s most important – like school and family. But they can also make time for what they love like competing and their social life.
4. A winner wins every day. Anyone can be a winner sometimes, but a real winner understands that consistency is the key. “Winning is not a sometime thing. It’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while. You do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.” – Vince Lombardi
5. Winners build other people up and help them succeed. They realize that someone else’s success doesn’t make them less likely to succeed themselves. They feed off of other people’s success to fuel themselves and help build people up mentally, physically and spiritually.
6. Winners know themselves and are honest with themselves. They know when they need to train harder and when they need to recover. They push themselves to the limit responsibly and allow themselves appropriate recovery time.
7. Winners believe that everything is possible. They approach new situations with an open mind and don’t put limits on themselves. Carl Lewis demonstrated this principle by saying that “scientists have proven that it’s impossible to long-jump 30 feet, but I don’t listen to that kind of talk. Thoughts like that have a way of sinking into your feet.”
8. Winners have a purpose. They don’t go through the motions or go on auto-pilot. Instead, they meaningfully train or compete to achieve their goals.
9. Winners take chances and are not afraid to lose. They aren’t afraid to take risks, but they can stay controlled when necessary. The idea of losing doesn’t scare winners because they are assured they did everything they could to win.
10. Winners don’t waste time. They don’t associate with people or things that will waste their time or drag them down. They stayed focused and associate with people who will build them up.