Everyone wants to be a winner.

What is a winner, anyway? Is it someone who never fails no matter what they do? Does a winner always win every time they start a new business, play a game, or in relationships, business or private? Do they succeed at everything they put their hand to?

Of course not!

If everyone won all of the time, there would be no one who would qualify to be known as a winner.

So, how do we define what it means to be a winner? Maybe we need to do the opposite, and to think of what a winner is not. In the dictionary the antonym of a winner is a loser; maybe the real opposite of a winner is a quitter. People who "win" at life, who accomplish their goals and do great things, are those who keep trying. Instead of letting failure knock them off course. A winner dusts themselves off and has another go, sometimes over and over again until they succeed.

We might not perceive ourselves as quitters, maybe because we are simply in the habit of changing goals. When we hit a pothole in the road to a goal, it's easy to give up and shift the goal posts and focus on another objective. Of course this is not the habit of a winner. It may not seem like giving up, but in essence it is the same thing.

There could be times when you are required to put a goal aside or delay achieving the goal until a better time. This could be for a variety of reasons, but if the goal is worth pursuing, don't give up on it all together.

Winners consider failure as being part of winning. Winners fail over and over on their journey to success. Seize failing as an opportunity to learn and not make the same mistake a second time. Be resilient and don't let a little setbacks dampen your enthusiasm for achieving the goal. Allow those small defeats along the way make you wiser, challenging you to become a better player in the game of life.

When winners are on the playing field of life they always have their eyes open for opportunities. Doors of opportunity open and close, with some opportunities not lasting very long. A winner is always ready take the chance and seize an opportunity when it arises. Having the vision to notice the opportunities requires a positive and open outlook on life. Winners are positive and grateful people. They know they can eventually achieve a goal if they keep working towards it.

Both winners and quitters experience ups and downs in their lives. The key to a winning attitude is to not let the downs keep us down. Hard times never last forever, just persevere and before long, things will be going your way again.

There's a simple way to keep a positive mental attitude even when everything seem to be falling apart on the outside. The best way, is to develop an attitude of gratitude. Being grateful for the little things in life helps us to be resilient and not quit on the things which are not working well at the time. If you want to become a winner, let gratitude become part of your personality.