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Do you ever notice how most people seem to fall somewhere in the realm ofbeing not bad or okay at things? Then there are those few who are good oreven excellent at whatever is being done. What is it about the latter thatseparates them from most? It might be a gift from God perhaps or maybethey!re "ust plain lucky. #ometimes it can be luck but thankfully for the rest of

us this isn!t the case. $ll of us can be winners. We all have the ability to begreat and all we need to do is apply ourselves in more productive ways.

%eople are very similar. $ctual ability in itself is neutral because we all havethe potential to be a winner. What separates winners from losers is moreoften than not the application of the task at hand. The tennis playercorrecting his backhand singer controlling her breathing and the chess playerwho thinks four moves ahead instead of three all align their actions inaccordance to winning. The beauty of it is that everyone else can do it too.

&nderstand the rules of the game you!re playing

The most important part of playing a game is knowing and understanding therules. 'ow can you expect to get anywhere in competition if you don!t knowthe rules of engagement? (ou "ust can!t win if you don!t know how. It is vitalto know how to win in any area you!re competing in. (ou need to score thatgoal win over that person or get that promotion. (ou have to know what isnot allowed so you can avoid actions that will get you penalised. %ut simplyyou need to know how much room you have to manoeuvre and how to avoidgetting in trouble.

Do it more than anyone else

We all know that the main way of getting better at something is to do it more.$s we do it more often it becomes second nature and therefore easier. In astudy that looked at musical prodigies to determine whether they had agenetic ability to perform or whether their skill was learnt it was found thatall of the prodigies in the study had practised playing their instrumentsomewhere between seven to ten thousand hours. That!s not to say that thenatural talent in the likes of )ristiano *onaldo or *oger +ederer didn!t play ama"or part in taking them all the way to the top but the fact is that peoplelearn by doing, The more you do something the better you get. Who wouldhave thought?-

Who you know

While we may like to believe that skill is the only deciding factor whenchoosing a winner we must accept that this is "ust simply not the case.#ometimes it is a uestion of who you know and unfortunately life is notalways fair. )hances are that if your mate was on the interview panel for that

"ob you wanted you!d have a great chance of landing the role. There!s no

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harm in networking is there?

Train with people who are better than you

When you surround yourself with people who are better than you it awakensyour desire to improve and push yourself even closer to your limits. If on theother hand you were the best among your group your role is then themaster instead of the student. While the others will be learning from you youyourself will not grow much as you will remain a big fish in a small pond. Thatlimits your room to explore. Instead go out and find someone who you canlearn from. Then the opportunities are endless.

We!ve got more advice on how to be a winner...

$mbition

$mbition almost always exceeds skill. 'ave you ever wanted something sobadly that you fought to the bone to get it? $lmost every guy knows ofsomeone who played alongside a kid in the playground who went on tobecome a professional football player even though /he was never really thatgood/. The greatest things that have ever been achieved throughout mankindhave been from those who were driven enough to get it. $im for the stars andsettle for the sky. This translates to modern life by always be pushing yourcomfort 0ones and never staying at the level you are in for too long. 1earn tolove that slightly uneasy feeling you get when doing something new orsomething old in a new improved way. It shows you!re walking the right pathto achievement.

2isualisation of the goal

2isualising what it is you want to achieve has two powerful purposes. +irstlyit motivates you which provides even more fuel for your ambition. #econdlyit transports you onto the /field/ and allows you to practise your task againand again. There is no difference between imagination and memory and theyboth use the same parts of the brain. When you imagine something specificfor long enough it can become a memory. When this is applied specificallywith the task at hand it works as an artificial practise memory.

get on the winning track

We all have the power to achieve and be excellent in what we choose. 3oreoften than not we fail to reach our true potential. It is those who keep movingand pushing to improve that end up winning. There is no reason why we all

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can!t also and with practice and enthusiasm we can go far beyond what wehave ever dreamt of. 3aking a habit of achieving and growing is one of thebiggest favours you can do for yourself.

$ word of warning, while winning is great it may be good to remember the

old saying of winning isn!t everything. While competition is sometimesnecessary there is more to life than competing. Don!t be blinded to the otherthings in life such as spending time with friends and family and appreciatingthe little time you actually have.