Congratulations! You’ve already recognized opportunities and captured them. You’ve also begun to find the true positive in every situation, and taken decisive actions to move forward to championship status. Now, the fun begins.

It’s time to walk in WINology Step 4—mastering your craft.\
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If you’ve ever heard the songs, “Because You Love Me,” (Celine Dion); “Blue Eyes Blue,” (Eric Clapton); “Un-break My Heart,” (Toni Braxton); or “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” (Aerosmith), along with hundreds of other chart-topping hits, then you’ve heard the work of songwriter, Diane Warren. Her songs have received seven Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win (Best Original Song for the movie, Burlesque) and 12 Grammy Award nominations, including one win (“Because You Love Me”). Without reservation, Diane Warren is one of the most successful, highly sought-after songwriters of our time.
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Ms. Warren has risen to such high acclaim due to two primary reasons—her talent and her work ethic. Concerning both, she said these words:

“You have to hone your craft, but you also have to be born with a certain amount of talent, and I never took the talent for granted—I've always worked really hard to be as good as I could be.”

Notice her last comment, “I’ve always worked really hard to be as good as I could be.” I believe this is the mantra for every high-performing winner—including you!

The great Hungarian composer and pianist, Franz Liszt, revealed the power and significance of mastering his craft when he said, “Miss one day of practice, I notice; miss two, the critics notice; miss three, the audience notices.” No matter how good you are now, you can always be better.

You can become great.

One of the very best business/motivational books written in the past 20 years is Jim Collins’ Good to Great. His most famous line from this writing is simply, “Good is the enemy to great.” Collins is true with his sentiments; WINologists can never settle for just “good enough.” Why? Because the second you do, you risk the beginning of your demise.

My favorite takeaway from reading Collins’ classic was one simple question: What can I be the best in the world at? This incredible and probing inquiry is one I believe everyone must address, individually and corporately, to become the world-class winners we were born to be.

As we close this Step, let’s tackle first things first. Your WINology assignments for this stage are: