You see it all the time in the world of sports. It’s true in the game of life as well. There are only two ways to play the game – you can play to win or you can play to NOT lose.

The difference is in your attitude. Your attitude affects your actions. Your actions determine your altitude.

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You’re a winner. So you won’t play it safe. You’ll be willing to stick your neck out. To try something new. To experiment.

It may not work, but that’s okay. Because winners learn and press on. You may experience a setback, but you won’t be defeated.

Try an unexpected play

You’re a winner. So once in a while, you’ll try an unexpected play. You know most people wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing. So you may face ridicule. You won’t care.

You know it won’t always work out. But sometimes it will. And it will put you light years ahead of the same people who scoffed at you.

Play to your strengths

You’re a winner. So you’ll play to your strengths. Many people spend too much time thinking about their weaknesses. You’ll come to understand what you do exceptionally well and build your plan around those things.

Play to your competitor’s weaknesses

You’re a winner. So you’ll play to your competitor’s weaknesses. Here’s where the game of life takes a twist from the world of sports. By playing to your competitor’s weaknesses, you may become your competitor’s ally.

Because your competitor may have strengths you don’t have. By working together, you may accomplish more than you can independently. You may win by helping your competitor win.

When you fall behind…

You’re a winner. So when you find yourself falling behind, you’ll redouble your efforts to get ahead. You will summon your resolve. You will not be beat. Because you will always play to win.

There will be days when you just can’t overcome. You won’t emerge the victor. But you will only allow yourself a short period of time to take in the lessons. Then you will focus on the job at hand. Playing again.

Tomorrow is a new day. You will try again. You will win. Because you’re a winner.

When you’re ahead…

When you’re ahead, you won’t rest on your laurels. You won’t start to play it safe. You will keep pressing on.

Occasionally, you will take time to celebrate your accomplishments. Then you will play the game again tomorrow. And you will win. Ah, the joy of BIGG success!

Do you play to win or do you play to NOT lose?

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Yet a lot of new entrepreneurs do think this. Worse yet, they say it out loud.

“Who’s your competition,” the prospective investor inevitably asks.
The entrepreneur exclaims, “That’s the best part – we don’t have any. This idea is so original; no one else in the whole world is doing it!”

Credibility destroyed. At best, it means they don’t understand their business. At worst, it means they haven’t done their homework.

In either case, they won’t get the money they need. So here are three things to understand about competition for your start-up:

Your customer could do something else
You may have the only newfangled whiz-bang store in town. But your future customers have been getting by with a substitute for quite a while now.

It may not be ideal, but they will have to make a change to buy your product. Most people resist change. How will you entice them to do so?

Your number one competitor may be your customer
If your new business is a service, can the customer do it themselves? If so, your customers may be your top competitors. This is true of both the consumer market and the business market.

They can probably do it themselves for less than you can do it for them, at least in the short run. What makes your service so special that they should pay you more? Or can you prove that you are less expensive in the long run?

No competition is probably a bad thing
This is another miscalculation in thinking. In almost all cases – if no one is doing what you’re thinking about doing – it probably means you shouldn’t do it either.

It may mean that the market isn’t large enough or receptive enough. If it’s the latter and you really have no competition, how much money will it take to educate the market?

If you had a competitor, you could share the cost. But you don’t. So you will have to do it all alone. It’s an incredibly expensive task for a fledgling start-up.

If you’re in the midst of planning your start-up, study your business so you can talk intelligently about your competition. It will get you one step closer to the funding you need.

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Now put a group of four- to five-years old kids in the same situation. There is no affect on the child who didn’t perform as well as his or her peers.

So what do kids know that we adults have forgotten?
They think they can learn new tricks, they can adapt. We adults think that an old dog can’t be taught new tricks!

Kids also think they can try harder next time and make up the difference. Isn’t that a healthy attitude? So why don’t we think that as adults?

Have we been beat down too many times? Are we too hard on ourselves? Do we want to think that things should come easily for us?

Life will throw you curve bills. On the path to bigg success, there will be times when you try and you don’t succeed. It’s important to learn from your mistakes, but we often learn the wrong lesson.

Learn. Adapt. Then double your efforts.

Don’t compete with the opposite sex
A more recent study at the University of Michigan showed that kids can be affected by competition. Little girls respond negatively if a little boy does better on a task. Little boys respond likewise – there’s a damaging impact if a little girl does better.

So what can we conclude? Should we learn that women shouldn’t try to compete with men? Or that men shouldn’t try to compete with women?

See them as a role model, not competition
There will almost certainly always be somebody better. If not, maybe a good dose of humility is in order! But rather than comparing yourself to that person and getting discouraged, look at that person as a role model.

You are where you are. They are where you want to be. See what you can learn from them so you get to where they are.

Chances are they got started earlier. Chances are they’ve put more time in. Chances are they’ve gotten a few lucky breaks – the kind of luck that comes to people who put themselves out there and take calculated risks.

So don’t see them as competition; look at them as a role model.

Don’t compete with others at all
But there’s a higher order – a higher level of consciousness regarding comparisons. Here it is:

Don’t compete with anyone else – man, woman or beast!

Compete with yourself.

Find that thing you at which you excel. Then strive to improve a little bit every day – day after day, the “new you” competing against the “old you”.

Focus on making yourself the best competitor you could ever encounter! Have you ever noticed that a great competitor brings out the best in his or her opponents?

Become your own best competitor and you’ll be a bigg success!

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Thank you so much for the gift of your time today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss the best investment you can make right now. Until then, here’s to your bigg success.

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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

Bigg dogs aren’t bigg because of their size. They’re bigg because of their attitude.

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There are 5 C’s that put the fight in the dog:

Calling

Bigg dogs just know they were put on this earth to do something special. They can feel it deep in their gut. It consumes them. They have to live up to their full potential. It drives them each and every day.

Courage

Sure, bigg dogs have fears, but they don’t let their fears drive them. They conquer their fears by confronting them head on. That’s one of the first victories we experience in our quest for bigg success: victory over our fears.

Confidence

They have confidence that their time will come. They don’t doubt that they will find their bigg opportunity. They know they will have their moment in the spotlight. They believe they will live their bigg dream.

They also have confidence that they will be ready. They know they will do whatever it takes to prepare for it. They will work harder and smarter than anyone else to be ready when their time comes.

For these reasons, they have confidence in themselves. They have prepared – mentally and physically – for this day that they knew would come. Now that it is here, now that the game is on the line, they want the ball. They are the go-to person and they will find a win to win.

Contemplation

Bigg dogs are thinkers and doers. They are always on the look out for opportunities that match their passions, preferences and proficiencies. When they see potential customers with a problem, they know they may be on to something.

They determine how easy these customers are to identify and reach. If it can be done, that spells opportunity.

Then they look at competitors. They know they don’t want to go head to head with large companies. They also look at competitors of all sizes.

If there aren’t any large companies dominating the niche and if there aren’t too many competitors in total, they get going!

Contempt

They know they will face adversity. They show scorn in its face. They press on to bigg success and that what makes them bigg dogs!

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Thank you for reading our post. Check out the entire Dog Days series. You'll find the links below under 'related posts'.

A lot of us have seen our portfolios take a huge hit. Please join us next time when we’ll talk about investments that don’t lose value. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00455-080709.mp3

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United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd developed a concept for the military called OODA Loops. OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

It’s a useful concept in business as well. Boyd postulated that you gain an advantage if you work through this loop faster than others. This is particularly true in today’s highly competitive, rapidly changing business world.

Start by getting in the loop
Boyd’s four processes are overlapping and interacting. That’s why you gain an advantage by getting in the loop. As you move through it, you constantly receive new information. Feedback that you don’t get if you never act. You’re able to use that feedback to adapt.

And that’s what gives you an advantage – you know things that the “analyzers” haven’t discovered. You can’t know everything before you make a decision, even if you conduct surveys, interviews, focus groups, or any number of other things.

Because they’re all speculative … conjecture … hypothesis. When you take action, you get real facts. Hard evidence. Things you only get by taking action.

Action is what creates the advantage
Nothing happens until you take action. Once you do, you start gaining information that others don’t have. You’re getting real data, while the others are still analyzing the situation.

By taking action, it’s not guaranteed that you will succeed. However, you have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. That education gives you a competitive advantage over those who aren’t yet in this game. That’s part of the process.

So get in the loop … and do something – even if it’s wrong!

Using OODA Loops in business
Let’s say you’re in business. You spot an underserved market – customers want something that your competitors don’t offer. You start gearing your organization in that direction. You choose a strategy to penetrate that market. Then you do it.

Now while that’s going on, your competition is catching up. But you’re there first, so you’re learning things about the market they don’t know yet. You have new observations which you use to tweak your strategy to maintain your competitive edge.

Get your friends in the loop … tell them about Bigg Success! Just click the Share This button below.

Our bigg quote today comes from Arie de Geus, who said,

So jump in the loop so you stay in the loop and gain the upper hand.

Next time, we’ll offer four tips that can lead you to a million dollars. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Sources

OODA Loop – Wikipedia

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War 

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