“I used to idolize athletes and entertainers
Cause they never let the situation capture ‘em
System gave ‘em lemons, made lemonade and sold it back to ‘em”
-Brother Ali, Chain Link
From the incredible Champion
I’ve always recognized the power of the mind even if I haven’t always had the best attitude. What constitutes the mindset of a winner? What kind of spirit do they possess? What is their attitude towards life? These are questions I’ve pondered for quite some time now. Take a moment and read the above lyrics, as they embody the spirit of winners: refusing to give up or be a victim of circumstance, making something out of nothing, and eventually rising above the system that attempted to screw them over to begin with. The system gave them lemons, and instead of complaining about it and letting the system dominate their focus, they turned their circumstance around and found opportunity out of their misfortune.
Life, by nature, inherently isn’t fair. The question of whether it should be fair, for the purposes of this column, does not matter. You could spend all your breath ranting about how life isn’t fair but in the end all you’ve done is waste time. Instead of focusing on how the system is screwing you, focus on rising above whatever situation you find yourself in and making the most of it. There will always be someone who starts off with more money, more talent, more intelligence, more connections, and more assets than you. Nothing good can come by focusing your attention on these inequalities. If you want to be successful, you need to have the mindset of a winner, and not make excuses for yourself. There are people who started off with less than you did and still managed to be successful. If they did it, there’s no reason that you can’t also.
Having a winner’s mindset means that you accept life’s curveballs and rise above whatever is thrown at you, as “unfair” as these may be. It means that you recognize life as inherently unfair, and that in order for you to be successful, it doesn’t matter what you start off with but what you accomplish, where are you are, with what you have. Learning to rise above obstacles is what breeds excellence: it’s what every successful person has learned is necessary to achieve great things. Now, not everyone wants that kind of challenge or wants to make that kind of effort. Everyone has different values and priorities, and “doing whatever it takes” to rise above their position in life simply may not be that important to someone. If that is the case, I hope you can learn not to place the responsibility of your success or failure on what you started out in life with. Haters never win. By and large, winning and success are the products of having a winner’s mindset.