Truly great organizations sustain success over time because they don’t chase results, they win in the work.

Truett Cathy taught, modeled and built an organization on the concept that success is built, not found, by doing many small things right over a long period of time. My observation after three decades is simply that Truett and many others around him found how to win in the work. This is more than working to win or working principled and then discovering wins. This is a joy, a deep satisfaction, and stewardship that there is a win in the actual work. This means washing dishes, cleaning floors, busing tables or gently defusing a disgruntled customer can all be wins. Winning is more than outcomes. There can be a win in the actual work.

If you want your organization or your leadership to be truly transformed, then learn how win while you are working. The principle is the win is in the work. This means you don’t leverage all your strength to go after a goal and then when you get it or hit it, then, you relax or back off. Too many “winners” hit their objective and then shortly after winning have a let down because they were chasing a point in time or a feeling. Feelings are fleeting. This also explains why so many leaders and organizations live in the past. They believed they won at a point in time and if they can recapture that point of time they can manifest the same thing in the future. If your victory is a point in time, then that’s all it will become–a dusty trophy of a distant and bygone era. Those who infuse the win in their work are remembering the principles of the past while working forward to a new future.

Learn that “the win”  is the sense of accomplishment that comes as you work a process with others for a shared outcome and goal as you share in the inputs or process. This means you can win every day. This means Monday is a win. This means bad days, rainy days and boring days can all be wins. This means you don’t let the normal, the regular or the mundane defeat you.

Learn to win every day. See, when you don’t have a winning-is-in-the-work mindset, you have a defeat-is-in-the-duty mindset. If you are always winning, then your attitude is one of unworried, fully present, yet driving with confidence to the future. You can actually win every day. Truly positive people have figured this out (or perhaps) born this way. This is for the rest of the 99.99% of us in the world! Anxiety and worry are elements of defeat. Drudgery is an innate element of duty. Winning is truly not only in the work, but in your attitude about your work. Work is not punishment. Work is a gift. Work is a window of opportunity. When you unwrap your gift every day, just like a present, you can personally win every day despite how others feel or act about shared work. When you open your window, the possibilities and potentials increase because you are constantly letting fresh air in and stagnant air out.

There is a double win with shared work. This means winning is multiplied when it is shared among like-minded members of the team. Winning in the work brings a satisfaction and joy to and through the work. When satisfaction is shared joy is multiplied and the burden lightened. This means you can have a difficult, boring or seemingly unfulfilling job yet still win at work. Your work is great than your job. Your job is the culmination of your tasks. There are tasks that are mundane, boring and dull. There are tasks that drain you and suck life out of you. However, these tasks are more about your attitude than your outcomes.

Winning in the work means you are grateful every day. Instead of a “I have to do this” attitude, you posses a “We get to do this” disposition. Gratitude is a sign of winning in the work because you acknowledge the contributions of others and appreciation of your opportunity. When you get to do something, you are expressing that you could not get to do that thing. You turn an obstacle into an opportunity and a burden into a blessing. When you see a blessing you can more aptly be a blessing, Miserable people bless no one. They are toxic and they are losers. Content, joy-filled people are blessings to those around them.

Winning in the work means you spend more focusing on the inputs than the outcomes. When the inputs are right the outcomes are a given. Too many people and organizations spend too much time focused on outcomes and too little time focused on the inputs. In the National Football League since the year 2000 the New England Patriots have had 20 more wins than any other franchise during the same time winning an astounding 280 games. In that same period of timer the Cleveland Browns have lost 271 games. What separates these two franchises is organizational culture focus. The Patriots have a culture that simply states “do your job.” For the Patriots who have collected more Super Bowl trophies in 25 years than any other team, the winning was in the input and the outcomes took care of themselves. The Cleveland Browns, conversely, have focused on a “savior” mentality for individuals to come in and lead them to the victory. They have consistently focused on winning as an outcome and not as an input.

Seeing the win in the work is a mark of excellence. Aristotle said, “We are what repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” We are what we repeat or sustain. We are not defined by a single act, a feeling or a point in time. The real winning is in the process, in our habits and in our disciplines. James Clear in Atomic Habits goes as far as to say, “You do not rise to the level of our goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This explains why there are so many one-hit wonders and so few dynasties. Discipline, systems, and rigorous accountability beat talent and desire frequently. When getting to go to work, getting to do the work, getting g to get up early, getting to stay late, and getting to take on the hard challenges becomes embraced by those in the organization, then this principle of the win in the work is taking root.

If standards are the multiplier, then others is the magnifier. No leader is meant to lead and work alone. In fact, if you are alone then you probably aren’t leading very well, since it’s incumbent upon leaders to have followers. When others are in engaged in the pursuit of the win in the work, then the bonds and fellowship in the organization or team are greatly strengthened. This explains when forced suffering is such a powerful binding agent on sweat-soaked football fields and in fear-ridden foxholes. High levels of discipline among humans draws them together. When we suffer, we need others. The same principle is deeply embedded in winning. Winning alone is fine, but it’s not great. Take golf or tennis. Both highly individualized sports. However, seeing Andy Murray win Wimbledon or Scottie Scheffler win a major is awesome, but it looks kind of awkward when they win alone, until they find their caddie, coach or family. Winning is a deeply shared experience. Think team sports. When the final whistle or horn blows, fans storm the field, players come together in piles of humanity to hug and jump and embrace. Winning together is more powerful than winning alone. Standards are the multipliers. Others are the magnifiers.

Don’t wait to get to a win. Win today. When you discover this powerful principle that the win is in the work, your defeats dissipate and your victories mount. When you discover that the win is in the work you will feel better, grow better and get better results. Not only that, others will be drawn to you as your attitude and outlook has transformed. What you do consistently is what will sustain you. What you do occasionally that will frustrate you. Don’t chase wins. Discover the win in your work and you can leave the chasing to those who like frustration, disappointment and illusions.

“Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest” – Proverbs 20:4