“Win at Life” has many different meanings for each of us — in our jobs, careers, relationships and social circles. What does it look like or feel like when we consider ourselves as winners in our life? So what does “win at life” mean for you? Is it sharing your gifts, unique talents, and brilliance that you have to offer? Is it what possessions you count among your blessings? How could we show up at our businesses, jobs, in our families that would allow us to be considered successful in our own lives and how others view us?

Let’s reflect on a time when we made our resolutions and check in with ourselves to see what “wins” we have accomplished. What goals did we set up that we’re on track to accomplish, or possibly we did achieve them? Often, we recall the goals we failed at or fell short on. It’s human nature to do that. If we didn’t make a resolution or set up some goals for ourselves, what are our intentions?

What if we shifted our thoughts to what goals we did accomplish, what did we set out to do and actually made that “thing” finally happen! Did we lose that 10 lbs.? How did that job search go…are you now working in the job of your dreams? That new home that you wanted…are you on track to make that happen? The list can go on and on. But, I’m sure if we were to take just 5 minutes today and look back at what we’ve achieved, the dreams we accomplished or set up as targets for future desires, we might find that not only did we make huge strides towards those goals, we actually realized many more that we didn’t even count on. WOW – when you write that list – are you surprised to see how much has happened?

Maybe some things didn’t turn out exactly as you intended. I get that…that’s life and sometimes we get disappointments too. Possibly that “not exactly new right job” lead you to that new friendship or relationship; maybe not getting the raise, inspired you to start looking for that new career or even, maybe, starting your own business. It’s a matter of choice how we view what happens in our life—it’s either a “win/win” because we find the lesson in it or we view it as a loss—scarcity—something that happened beyond our control so it sucks and now we’re left short and feeling like ‘not a winner”. We didn’t get the result we wanted and we were so attached to the “specific” outcome, that we can’t see the lesson in that situation that might have opened a new door for us if only we could see the opportunity.

Here’s what I know for sure – that when we focus on our strengths, we get more of it. When we look for the opportunity, we see more of them. It’s like the when you’re driving a car on the road, we’re told to “keep our eyes on the road” because that’s where we want the car to go. If we get distracted and turn our heads down to check our phones, or put our attention to the guardrail, the car veers in another direction. If we try to drive while keeping one eye on the rearview mirror and the other looking ahead, the results are not good. That’s what happens in our lives when we are looking back at our losses and not ahead to our gains—we miss the “wins” and the direction that our life might be offering us. It’s like driving with one foot on the gas pedal and the other one on the break—you stay stuck.

So if you so inclined to take that look back and acknowledge all the things that we’ve put into motion, that will allow us to keep our momentum on moving forward knowing that there’s so much more ahead of us and we can all see ourselves as “winners’ every day if we take the time to acknowledge our successes.

This seems like a simple fact but not so simple when applied to our lives.