Winning/winning

?Winning? is hard for me to write about.  When I applied to medical schools ? I didn?t say ?I want to win) I said that I wanted to help keep/make people healthy and successful.  ?Medicine isn?t a competition? I would say ? and certainly that is true.  But then again ? which doctor doesn?t want to be ?the best?"

So ? yes ? I was honored in 2008 when a survey of doctors in my region voted me to be one of the best family physicians.

And I am thrilled to me a member of the ?winning? team of Allscripts.

But winning still feels like a silly goal ? and yesterday I won twice and now I think I know what?s different.

a) I won a half-marathon yesterday.  No ? I didn?t beat everyone.  I was #108 out of about 650.  But I ran my fastest time ever.  I beat the goal that I had set for myself ? and ran the same race 32 minutes faster than I had one year before.  When I finished, I felt like a winner.  15+ months of training, with slow, deliberate progress.  My stride was better, my conditioning was better.  As George Leonard writes in Mastery, the key to success is NOT about seeking finish line ? it?s about the plateau of slow progress we make on the long path toward our goal.

b) I won a raffle for a brand new pair of Newton running shoes.  Yay.  I won! No training, no long road.  I just won!  It felt empty and cheap.  I win raffles like this a lot.  Really ? I do.  How?  I significantly increase my chances of winning with a simple trick.  Do you know my trick?  Post a comment if you do.  🙂