The Winner Effect: How to Be Successful in Life

Start winning, and you'll keep winning

According to neuropsychologist Ian Robertson, success and failure shape us more than anything else.

He explains that an animal that wins a few fights against weaker opponents is much more likely to win future confrontations against stronger contenders.

Robertson calls this the “winner effect”, and it happens in all species—humans included.

The winner effect occurs because success changes the chemistry of the brain.

Each time you win, there’s an increase of testosterone and dopamine in your body.

Those chemicals make you more confident, more aggressive, more focused, and smarter.

When you experience success, your mind and body essentially reshape to give you a biological advantage.

And the more you win, the more likely you’ll be to win again in the future.

Luckily, you don’t have to engage in actual fistfights to benefit from this tendency.

You can create a powerful winner effect by setting yourself up for success in your daily routines.

Here are some examples for your fundamentals and cornerstones:

• Sleep: Do a one-minute breathing exercise when you get into bed.

• Nutrition: Have a fruit on your afternoon break.

• Movement: Take the stairs at the office.

• Work: Do 15 minutes of deep work in the morning.

• Love: When you arrive at home, tell your spouse the best thing that happened at work.

Make your daily habits so easy that you’re basically guaranteed to get them done.

That way, you’ll create a winner effect that will carry you through more challenging efforts in the future.

Start winning, and you’ll keep winning.