I was watching a few shows on TV and observing a few social media posts when I came across a series of conversations about people winning in their lives.
These people talked about how they found a great career. They found love that was right under their nose. Their businesses expanded, and so did their network. They talked about opportunities that came together, doors that opened, and things finally falling into place.
As I read some of these posts and watched some of these shows, I started thinking:
Do people name their wins?
Do people actually sit down, stand up, lie down, and identify a definite win?
If someone isn't giving any thought to their win, then how do they know that they won?
Is this making sense to somebody?
Because sometimes I think I am delirious.
I have a confession to make, and let's keep this between all of us, okay? I don't want everybody knowing my business. You know how the internet be internetting.
I haven't done a great job at identifying my wins.
Well, let's back up.
I would identify the wins, but I wouldn't stick with the win.
Meaning, I didn't give enough thought, energy, or consistency to what I wanted to win at to actually see the win through. Because I wasn't consistently connecting with the win, even when I won, I couldn't always recognize that I had won.
I was too busy doing something else.
Like watching other people win and wondering where my win was going to show up.
Are you still following me?
Because this is where it gets interesting. I started realizing that maybe the problem wasn't that I wasn't winning. Maybe the problem was that I wasn't paying attention to my wins.
I was looking for the big moment.
The announcement.
The money.
The opportunity that everybody could see. The kind of win that makes you want to post a picture, write a long caption, and tell everybody, “Look what happened!”
But what about the little wins?
What about the things that happen quietly?
What about the decision you finally made after going back and forth for months?
What about the boundary you finally kept?
What about the habit you finally changed?
What about the conversation you finally had?
What about the opportunity that showed up because you had finally become available for it?
What about the thing you prayed for, worked for, prepared for, and then walked right past because it didn't look the way you thought it would?
I had to start paying attention.
So, I started changing my patterns and habits. Every night and every morning, I would visit my wins.
I would read them. Think about them. Sit with them.I wasn't just thinking about what I wanted. I was reminding myself of what I had already decided I was going to win.
It took some time, but eventually, I couldn't fall asleep without reading it. And when I woke up in the morning, I would read it again.
Something started shifting.
Not necessarily because everything around me suddenly changed, but because I changed the way I was looking at my life. I started noticing things. Little pieces of the win would begin showing up in my everyday life. Evidence would pop up in places I wasn't expecting it.
A conversation.
An opportunity.
A new idea.
A change in my behavior.
A different response to something that would have normally triggered me.
A door opening.
A door closing that I didn't need to walk through anyway.
I started realizing that the win wasn't always going to arrive with fireworks.
Sometimes the win was going to look like me finally becoming the person who could recognize the opportunity when it arrived. And that's when I stopped just doing things and started intentionally doing things.
There is a difference.
When you're just doing things, you can spend your entire day moving and still have no idea what you're moving toward. But when you are intentional, you start asking yourself:
What am I doing this for?
What am I building?
What am I trying to change?
What does winning actually look like for me?
And most importantly:
Will I recognize it when it gets here?
Because maybe winning isn't just about getting the thing.
Maybe winning is also about becoming aware enough to recognize that you got the thing.
Maybe the win is already happening in pieces.
Maybe you're standing in some of the evidence right now.
Maybe you're so accustomed to looking at what you haven't accomplished that you haven't stopped long enough to acknowledge what you have.
So, I want to challenge you to do something.
Name your wins.
Not the wins you think you should have.
Not the wins somebody else is having.
Not the wins that look impressive on social media.
Your wins.
Write them down. Visit them. Think about them. Pay attention to the evidence.
And don't be so quick to move on to the next thing that you forget to celebrate what just happened.
Because if you don't stop to recognize your win, you might spend your entire life winning and wondering when your life is finally going to change.
And maybe...
it already has.
You just haven't stopped long enough to notice.
So, tonight, before you go to sleep, ask yourself:
What did I win today?
And don't tell yourself, “Nothing.”
Look again.
There may be a win sitting right under your nose. And this time, I want you to notice it.
Name it.
Own it.
And then keep showing up for it. Because a win isn't just something that happens to you.
Sometimes, a win is something you learn how to recognize, nurture, and continue walking toward.
Now go find your win.
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