WIN NOW; these are two words that can completely change the way you build your business or pursue your life goals. The result of applying the WIN NOW principles are that you indeed will "win now"! But aside from being a nice sounding phrase, WIN NOW can teach an attitude that will empower you to achieve your goals, remind you of what you should be focusing on, and help you take advantage of every opportunity you are given. WIN NOW is the combination of two important acronyms. WIN stands for What's Important Now? NOW stands for No Opportunity Wasted.
WIN is taught by Lou Holtz, one of the best football coaches of all times and an amazing leadership speaker. "What's Important Now?" is a phrase that will help you keep on track in your business and your life. To apply the WIN principle, simply ask yourself the question, "What's Important Now?" over and over again throughout your day. It is a simple question which can help refocus you and take action.
Throughout the day it is really easy to get off track and move away from important action to doing things that are only a waste of time. By asking yourself "What's Important Now" you can remind yourself that there are things that are important and you can move back to activities that will help you accomplish what is important.
The answer to the WIN question will change throughout your day. At times, WIN will mean giving complete attention to your spouse or children; at times WIN will mean taking steps towards growing your business, and at times it will mean being the best employee you can be. The key is that you SHOULD be doing the important thing at any one moment.
In order to apply WIN you need to have an understanding of what exactly is important. Knowing what's important comes from an understanding of your mission and your goals. Your personal mission should help you always have a clear understanding of what sort of things are going to be important to you. The main part of my mission is "teaching others how to be successful in all areas of life". Therefore, the things that are important will in some way help me to do this. In my case this can be through my job as a professor, through my role at my church, through my blog, or through my home business. In all of those situations, and in others, I am teaching others how to be successful.
After you have clarity around your mission you can set goals. For goals to be effective within the WIN principle you need to have long-term goals that are broken down into short-term goals set on a weekly basis. Each week you should set your priorities in each of the different areas (or roles) in your life. If you understand clearly your weekly goals that will allow you to focus on WIN throughout each day. The things that will be important are those things that help you achieve your weekly goals.
The second part of the phrase is NOW, or No Opportunity Wasted. This is a phrase originated by Phil Keagan, the host of The Amazing Race, and his television show "No Opportunity Wasted". NOW refers to never letting a chance for growth go past you. Opportunities are all around us. There are opportunities in all realms of life – your physical life, your personal life and your spiritual life. NOW means that you will be watching for these opportunities, you will recognize them when they present themselves and take advantage of them.
NOW will connect directly with WIN. The opportunities you will look for when applying NOW will be the things that help you achieve the important things from WIN. NOW will mean making the contact with someone you want to partner with in your business. NOW will mean getting out of your comfort zone on a daily basis; NOW will mean taking advantage of the ten minutes you have between meetings to do something useful. In other words, thinking "No Opportunity Wasted" will help you to look for any opportunity to do the important things that will help you achieve your goals.
By combining NOW and WIN you get the phrase WIN NOW; which is exactly what will happen for you if you continually apply these principles. With WIN you will be always asking yourself "What's Important Now?" This understanding will allow you to take action towards these goals. NOW will help you to remember to be watching for opportunities throughout your day, and then spur you to take action towards those activities, even if it means moving through your comfort zone and doing things that may cause fear. These actions towards the important things in life will indeed help you WIN NOW.
Written by:
Danny Gamache
