Beyond Winning and Losing
Oct. 22, 2023"You play to win the game"
- Herm Edwards, NY Jets football coach, in 2002
Sports, by nature, produces winners and losers. Life does this too. In any competitive endeavor, there is some score-keeping mechanism that tallies points scored, dollars earned, papers published, or awards accumulated and identifies winners and non-winners. It's the nature of competition, and it provides a clear definition by which everything is measured.
But it's only one aspect to the story.
Because every sport contains individual human beings. And every individual has an identity.
The key to integrating competition with a deeply satisfying life is to play the game to win without equating your identity with the outcomes you produce. I'm a winner when I win, I'm a loser when I don't.
A better alternative is to associate your identity with something bigger and deeper than wins and losses. Seek to be a leader, a teacher, a contributor, or an artist. Be an inspiration. Not only will you have an identity you can be proud of, you'll have one you create fresh every day. And you may be pleased with how many wins you collect along the way.
