Are you a winner or a whiner?

One night last week my 6 year old son, Aidyn, was doing his homework. One of his assignments was to write 3 sentences.  Anything he wanted.  One of the sentences he wrote was…

“I want to be a winer.”

He meant winner, of course.  And while the “winner” and “whiner” may not differ much in spelling, they differ big time in other ways.

A whiner focuses on the problem.  A winner focuses on the solution.

When there’s a problem, a whiner would rather quit.  A winner would rather overcome.

A whiner views a failure as the end.  A winner views a failure as a learning opportunity.

A whiner would rather get sympathy for their circumstances.  A winner would rather receive praise for their perseverance.

A whiner prefers the discomfort of their current circumstances.  A winner prefers to change their circumstances.

If you offer advice, a whiner will tell you why it won’t work.  A winner will look at how it could work.

What other differences are there between a winner and a whiner?  And which are you?