Why Your First Win Matters: A Path to Success

Winners win. That’s their common denominator. They win because they have won before. They know how to win. For every other challenge, there is a 70% probability that a past winner will win, or at least, rank in the top quarter. They have done it before, so they can do it again. In the end, after you have won, winning stops being a result and becomes a habit. But first, you must win.

The first win is a game-changer for every winner. It shifts the odds, literally, yet surprisingly. Difficult circumstances will change overnight after your first win. Sometimes, the change is so drastic that the circumstances disappear altogether. Yes, just like that! The first win transforms you from a dreamer to a champion. A role model. A leader. The first win instigates a mindset shift from “I can try” to “I can” to “I will”. It is this transformation that makes winners win and winning a habit.

There is no winner’s story that starts with the decision to do something or participate in a competition. That decision was also made by losers; otherwise, they wouldn’t be. As every loser’s story starts from their first loss, every winner’s story starts from their first win. That’s why it is important to get that first win. Every winner gets this, and if they are not bad people, they will always celebrate the first wins of their peers and friends. Others, unfortunately, may not appreciate this, and may even trivialise this as an unmerited favour, or worse, meaningless.

Those who don’t appreciate the first wins of others are not necessarily losers. They could be winners, but in a different field. Indeed, we are all winners. But we don’t think of ourselves as such because our common winning has made us blind to our common wins. These wins have become so normal that we call them natural occurrences. They could be, but some of us don’t register those wins. To begin with, we are all alive because we breathe. But some newborn babies fail to breathe. Some eventually do after the untiring assistance of doctors. Some don’t make it after all. That is the first win for all of us, and because we won at it, it has become a natural habit.

The second thing most of us do is to talk. But not everybody talks as clearly and audibly or eloquently. Some have a lisp. Some stutter or stammer. Some completely fail to talk, even when they function normally in other things. But being dumb is not even as close an example as learning a new language. I often wonder how people roll their tongues so easily to speak the languages I find difficult and amusing. Again, that is far. The best example is the struggle a child goes through to learn to speak in their native language or mother tongue. The child will, from day one, try to speak, and it will keep trying until finally it can. But the success of speaking is not even the first win. The first win for a child is when it realises that it can make a sound with its mouth and be heard. The child will not care whether the sound makes any sense or not, but it will nonetheless make the sound to communicate. As it learns to make meaning of the words spoken by others, the child will attempt to say the same words to make the same meaning others do when they say that word. And so, the child will no longer try to just make sounds; it will try to speak words. This progress is a series of wins, or first wins, and that is what keeps the child going, winning.

The first win, for everything, is an affirmation that we are capable of doing that thing. Likewise, it is an affirmation that we can achieve what we dream of having. The first win boosts our confidence and self-esteem. It redefines our identity as winners, which makes us brave and competitive. The first win makes us winners, which gives us an audience, which makes us leaders. This is because the first win gives us moral authority to share our opinions and ideas. The first win is therefore an affirmation that our ideas are intelligent and valid. It changes our reputation, which shifts the odds in our favour and naturally intimidates our opponents. The first win brings with it a positive mindset by removing any doubts about winning. This positive attitude tells us one thing: to repeat what we did to win, and even better, so that we can maintain the win and also improve the score. This is what makes winners intelligent and wise. This is what makes winners win and win and win until winning becomes a habit, or what others call second-nature.

Aspire to get your first win. That will make you stand up even when you fall at a second attempt. Failing at the second attempt is not failing to win; it is learning what to change and how to do it, to make the second win bigger. In any case, winning the second time will always be easier than winning the first time. Even when circumstances change, a winner will always eventually win because the first win tested and fortified their grit. That is why winners are resilient. That is why winners are not shaken the same way losers are when they fail at something. Failure reminds a loser that they are a loser. On the other hand, failure is a rude awakening to a winner that they are a winner, and that the loss does not define them. For a loser, failure is an affirmation of their doubts. But for a winner, failure is a challenge to their beliefs. No wonder, winners are not quitters. A loser is like a squatter on land; their default setting is to run away. A winner, on the other hand, is like a landlord on whose land a squatter has trespassed; their default setting is to attack and fight to reclaim their land.

Ensure that you get that first win. Do not give up. Keep going. Keep praying. Keep hoping and believing that one day, you will get it as well as others have. When you do get your first win, you will have broken the chain of losing. You will inspire your family, friends, workmates, colleagues, and countrymen. Winning will start in your family, at your school, business and workplace, and in your country. Take football, for example, the countries known for good football continue to rank highly, mainly because of their good football history, such as Brazil. Take away their history, and they will now fight for a seat at the table, but not for the chair.

I have been blessed to win in the past. Small or big, those first wins have immensely shaped who and what I have become. When I look at all my achievements, they trace back to those first wins I registered. For example, I was a top debater in my primary school, and I continued to be one in secondary school, later transitioning to a national moot court champion as a law student. I was a leader in primary school, and I later became Guild President at Cavendish University Uganda, among other leadership roles. I was a top actor in my primary school, and I later became an actor and soloist in a folk song at music, dance and drama competitions in secondary school, eventually becoming a professional actor with television credits to my name. I used to write some of the best compositions in primary and secondary school, and now I am a published author. For everything that I do and am, there was a first win. That first win began a series of other wins that have culminated in what I am and who I am today.

For your career, business or studies, you need a first win. That will be the beginning of everything. That will be the game-changer. That will be your launch pad. Set yourself to record a first win, and the rest will be history. It will not be easy. It never is. But the first win will feel so good that it will transform you into somebody else: a winner. Do not give up yet. First wins are usually small, but they bring the big wins. For that journey of a thousand miles, the first step was the first win. Take it, embrace it, and make it a habit.