The mere act of winning a contest actually makes it more likely you'll win a subsequent one. Winning increases the receptors in the brain for critical hormones linked to first motivation and secondly aggression. So that's the biological, the likely biological mechanism for the winner effect. But in our own daily lives we can get into a frame of mind where we want to always do better than the next person. That's probably a less successful strategy than doing better than we did the last time ourselves.
Episode 198: Ian Robertson - The Winner Effect AND How Stress Can Make You Better
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The Learning Leader Show
"Success breeds success. The mere act of winning makes it more likely you'll win again."
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- Common themes of leaders who sustain excellence:
- Ability to set goals -- Not too big but not too easy
- Self belief -- Self Confidence
- Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic motivation
- There will always be someone better than you. The focus should be on improving your own self
- Why Elon Musk and Steve Jobs transcend the norms
- "A lot of people suffered in Steve Jobs desire to build those products"
- Steve and Elon are anomalies, not the norm
- "To be #1 in the industry is NOT a good goal"
- What happens to lottery winners a year later? -- "Ashes in your mouth"
- How the brain is complex
- What it means to be a bad dad -- Pablo Picasso
- "Success conveys power... Power changes your brain. It creates narcissism"
- Bad Dad's "hide the ladder." They get up the tree, then do not show others how they got there.
- "Keep a ladder down for others"
- "They must see that it's not God Like... That they can do it"
- Study: Kids -- Those who believe they can do better and influence their IQ, do better in school.
- With fixed mindset, failure hurts the ego
- How can stress make you stronger?
- Tiger Woods example -- Being nervous before a competition is a good thing (with the right mindset)
- If you have a big presentation and you say to yourself, "I'm nervous." You'll do worse than if you say "I'm really excited."
- Adopting a challenge mindset, visualizing the reward
- "Create a challenge mindset"
- If you're nervous, don't say "I feel calm." That's not true and your brain knows it. Instead, say "I'm excited." Use that energy for good.
- Using the Joe Buck "So What" method -- It can help with irrational fear of disapproval
- Can too much happiness be bad for you? -- Yes, over protecting our children can be bad. They need to experience adversity.
- "Leaders by definition have to have a vision."
"Success conveys power... Power changes your brain."
Continue Learning:
You may also like these episodes:
Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon
Episode 071: Nate Boyer - Green Beret, Texas Football, The NFL
Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions
Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why
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Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell
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