An Essay

[Tivers@aol.com]

Winners and Losers

Those of you who are trying to be innovative and, worse, are having success 
with your innovations, should be aware of the loser mentality. It MUST attack 
you. Here's why.

The winner mentality is owned by just small percentage of the population. 
This type of person is driven to succeed, to figure out complex puzzled, to 
learn every aspect of the problem he confronts and thus overcome it. When he 
mettes a winner, particularly one who beats him in today's match, he doesn't 
accuse the winner of cheating in some way, or of having some kind of base 
motivation. Instead, he walks up and asks "how'd you do that?" 

If the answer is not forthcoming, and many times it isn't, then he studies 
that winner, comes to understand how the winner is winning, and then figures 
out a better way of doing things that will overcome the other winner's 
advantage. That's called competition. For some, it's a lot of fun. A good, 
longtime chess game. You find out what the best are doing, and you do better.

The loser mentality operates on a different level. First of all, the loser 
knows that he is a loser. For whatever reason, the loser has come to the 
conclusion that he can't possibly win. But because losers make up a large 
segment of the population, he has a lot of friends in the same boat. Misery 
loves company. Losers get together and talk a lot. Things like, "if only the 
rules were different, we could win". Or, "he might win this game, but we're 
better than him in every other way". Or, "these winners must be cheating". 

That last is a little hypocritical, because the ranks of the cheaters are 
made up of loser mentalities driven to desperation. Winners like the rules to 
be clear. They're optimistic that they can figure out the game and win. They 
don't want anybody cheating, because it ruins the game.   

As the loser searches about trying to figure out  a way to win, one of the 
ploys is to change the game entirely--turn a sport into a popularity contest. 
There is a way for a loser to win a popularity contest--because there are so 
many losers. What the poor folls don't realize is that, if they win the 
popularity contest, their fellow losers will eat them alive--"he's not so 
great--I remember all those times he cheated".  

The loser's lot in life is continuous misery. He is unsuccessful and is 
driven to worsen his situation, mainly because he hasn't the intelligence, or 
the discipline, to create and implement an effective gameplan. 

As a winner, what can you do for a dedicated loser? Nothing. From experience 
I can tell you that you cannot change a tiger's spots. But you can do a lot 
to help other winners who aren't winning yet. Why would you do that? Because 
it's an elite club and tough competition is what the whole thing is about. 
It's no fun being at the top of a pyramid that has no substance to it, no 
real players. 

After 30 years in this business, I think I can spot a winner a mile away. 
More often than not they exhibit a "boy scout" mentality--clean, dedicated 
players with no fear and a kind of optimism and self confidence that really 
irritates losers.  In contrast, losers are negative, a little "slippery", 
fearful, "in the know", secretive--little whiny puppies with teeth bared and 
a silly little growl that wouldn't frighten a cat. 

Don't get me wrong--losers can hurt you. A single jackal might be a 
disgusting cowardly beast, but in a pack they can be formidable. And losers 
generally attack in a pack. Winners, more often than not, are out there 
alone. So, once in a while, it is intelligent for winners to gather round one 
of their own and help fight off the jackals. For the good of the game, if 
nothing else. 

And then thee is the universal law of "what goes around comes around". If you 
help a fellow winner, believe me, it comes back around to you--you strengthen 
yourself with every such gift. Why? Because most winners can spot other 
winners after just a few words of conversation.  Winners tend to help each 
other. And a winner can always do more for you than a whole tribe of losers. 

Finally, there is a large population of could-be winners out there. Folks who 
are currently losing, are trying to figure out the game, and are unsure which 
camp they really fit into. Every winner has had times when this nagging doubt 
got to him. It's a kind of crossroad everybody faces from time to time. It's 
where courage comes in, and a little encouragement from another winner.  When 
a winner takes a could-be winner under his wing for a while, it's the very 
most rewarding part of the game.  It comes back. In spades.


ti

Tom Ivers, President
Equine Racing Systems, Inc.
 <A HREF="http://www.equineracing.com/">ERS Home Page</A> 

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