Recognize the Real Winners

How do you recognize a real winner? We have so many competitions from beauty pageants, to talent searches, to sports and politics. Only one gets the crown, the trophy. One stands on top. One is recognized as the champion. 

And the rest are placers. 

Most competitions seek out to proclaim as winner those who most exemplify characters or talents among a pool of competitors. Who is the most beautiful? Who is the smartest? Who is the most physically fit? Who is most liked by the people? Judging criteria are then drafted in the hopes of making tangible these boundless noble attributes. 

But are these judging criteria foolproof? Many have been proclaimed technical winners but their wins have been questioned time and time again. The recent bout of Mayweather and Pacquiao shows just that. Indeed, Mayweather may be the technical winner but he did not win the hearts of many. Talent searches that include voting criteria to proclaim the winners sound more like a popularity contest rather than a real talent search. 

So how do you spot a real winner?

The challenge is we tend to always look for the outcome, the execution, without looking at the journey that people undergo. And we always think that there should only be one winner. 

First, we have to expand our definition of what a winner should be. Competitions are meant to be arenas to discover human virtues, and virtues are boundless and multi-faceted. 

Second, we need to see beyond the results. Some companies say that in-market execution is the only thing that consumers see. This is the only thing that consumers judged. No one would be able to see how much hard work is put in an effort if the end result failed. Although this is the case for the capitalistic world, this should not be it. Hardwork should always be recognized because only those with good values are able to work hard. 

Lastly, I am not saying that there should not be technical winners. What I am saying is that we should start recognizing other winners. Sometimes, they are more of a winner than the technical winner is.

Characteristics of real winners

1. Humble – real winners are not conceited or egoistical. They remain humble despite their success.
2. Works hard to achieve his goal – it doesn’t matter if the goal is achieved, as long as he has put in all his effort towards his goal. 
3. Has integrity – a real winner will not compromise his values and beliefs in order to win. 
4. Respects dignity – a real winner know that he is his own person. Bashing or mockery does not affect him. He is also aware that he worthy of respect as a person and he accords the same respect to his competitors and to everyone. 
5. Understands that there are things more important than being the technical winner
   

Recognition is one motivating factor for a man to work hard to become a better version of himself. While we cannot, and we must not, eliminate competitions, we should start recognizing those who exhibited winning attitudes together with the technical winners.

Let’s re-think how we recognize real winners. After all, isn’t the highest goal not taking home the crown but being the best version of oneself?