The Big Truth: Why Winning is What We Remember

Imagine you are watching a big race. There are two runners.

Runner A wakes up at 4:00 AM every single day. He eats only healthy food. He has a very special coach. He wears the most expensive shoes. He has a perfect plan for how to breathe and how to move his legs. This plan is what we call a methodology. It is his "way" of doing things.

Runner B is a bit messy. He wakes up late sometimes. He loves to eat pizza. He doesn't have a fancy coach. But when the whistle blows, Runner B runs faster than anyone has ever seen. He crosses the finish line first. He gets the gold medal.

One hundred years from now, when people open a history book about that race, what will they see?

They will see a picture of Runner B holding the gold medal. They will see his name in big, bold letters. They will say, "He was the fastest man in the world."

What about Runner A? What about his perfect 4:00 AM wake-up time? What about his healthy food and his fancy shoes?

Those things will be hidden in a tiny note at the bottom of the page. Or, they might not be there at all. In history, that is called a footnote. A footnote is the small text that most people skip because they only want to know who won.

The hard truth of life is this: Winning is the only thing that stays in the books. The way you did it is just a small story that most people forget.

When we say "winning," we don't just mean sports. Winning means getting the result you wanted.

History is like a giant library. It has millions of books. But the library is very picky. it only likes to keep the books about people who actually finished what they started.

If a scientist spent 50 years trying to find a cure for a cough but never found it, history might forget his name. Even if he worked harder than anyone else, he didn't "win." He didn't get the result.

But if a young girl finds the cure by accident while playing in her garden, her name will be in every book forever. History cares about the cure (the win), not the 50 years of hard work (the methodology).

Methodology is just a fancy word for "The Way You Do Things."

Think about baking a cake.

If you bring a cake to a party and it tastes amazing, everyone will say, "Wow! You are a great baker!" They will eat the cake and be happy. They won't ask you, "Did you stir the bowl clockwise or counter-clockwise?" They won't care if you used a wooden spoon or a metal spoon.

The "way" you made the cake is a footnote. The "taste" of the cake is the winner.

You might think, "That’s not fair! The plan is important!"

And you are right. In the moment, the plan is very important. Without a plan, it is hard to win. But history is not interested in being fair. History is interested in what survives.

Think about the Great Pyramids in Egypt. They are giant stone buildings that have been there for thousands of years. They are a huge "win."

Do we know exactly how they were built? Not really. We have some guesses. We think they used ramps. We think they used many workers. But the "how" (the methodology) is lost. It is a mystery.

Does it matter? To the people living today, not really. We still look at the pyramids and say, "Wow, the Egyptians were amazing." The win—the giant building—is what survived. The names of the tools and the daily schedules of the workers are gone. They were footnotes that the wind blew away.

Sports is the best place to see this truth.

Imagine a soccer game. Team A has the ball almost the whole time. They pass it perfectly. They look beautiful on the field. Their "methodology" is perfect. Everyone says, "They are playing the right way."

Team B is struggling. They keep losing the ball. They look tired. But, in the very last minute, Team B kicks the ball once, it hits a player's knee, bounces off the goalpost, and goes in.

The game ends. Team B wins 1-0.

The next day, the newspaper doesn't say "Team A played a beautiful game." The big title says: TEAM B WINS.

In ten years, nobody will remember that Team A was "better" at passing. They will only look at the record book and see that Team B got the trophy. The methodology (the passing) was just a footnote. The score (the win) is what survived.

Think about the phone you have in your pocket. It is a "winner" in the world of business.

Do you know the name of the person who decided what colour the box should be? Do you know if they used a special computer program to design the battery? Do you know if the workers in the factory had a meeting every morning at 9:00 AM?

No. You don't care about the methodology of the company. You only care that the phone works.

If a company has a "perfect" way of working—everyone is happy, they have free snacks, they use the newest computers—but they make a phone that breaks in two days, that company will die. History will forget them.

But if a company is very strict and boring, but they make the best phone in the world, they win. Their "boring meetings" are a footnote. Their "great phone" is what stays in history.

The word metric is just a way to measure something.

If you want to know if a tree is healthy, you look at its leaves. The leaves are the metric.

If you want to know if a person is fast, you use a watch. The time on the watch is the metric.

In history, the only metric that doesn't change is "Did it work?"

If you try to build a bridge and it stays up, you are a winner.

If you try to build a bridge and it falls, you are not.

It doesn't matter if you were the nicest person in the world while you built the bridge that fell. It doesn't matter if you used the most "correct" math. If the bridge is in the river, your methodology failed. The only metric that matters is the bridge standing tall.

Let's talk more about the footnote.

A footnote is like the "behind the scenes" video of a movie. When you go to the cinema, you want to see the hero save the day. You want to see the big explosion and the happy ending. That is the movie. That is the "win."

The "behind the scenes" video shows the actors getting their makeup on. It shows the cameraman tripping over a wire. It shows the director getting angry because it’s raining.

Most people never watch the "behind the scenes" video. They just watch the movie.

In life, your methodology is your "behind the scenes." It is your hard work, your tears, your late nights, and your clever ideas. You should be proud of them! But you must understand that the world—and history—is only waiting to see the movie.

If the movie is bad, no one cares how hard the "behind the scenes" work was.

This is a bit of a sad part of the story, but it is true.

In history, there have been many wars. Often, the side that "won" the war gets to write the history books. They say, "We were the heroes. We were right."

They might have used very mean ways to win. Their methodology might have been cruel. But because they won, they get to decide how the story is told.

The people who lost might have had a very "noble" way of fighting. They might have been very kind. But because they are gone, their story becomes a footnote. Sometimes, it even gets erased.

History doesn't ask, "Who was the nicest?" History asks, "Who is left standing?"

Now, you might feel a bit discouraged. You might think, "If only winning matters, why should I try to have a good plan? Why should I be a good person?"

This is where we have to be careful.

Even though history only remembers the win, you have to live through the methodology.

If you win by being a bad person, history might remember your name, but your life will be very unhappy while you are living it.

Also, a good methodology is usually the best way to win!

The methodology is the tool you use to get the win. But once the win is finished, the tool is put back in the box. People look at the finished house, not the hammer.

There is one group of people who do care about the methodology. We call them experts.

If you are a baker, you might read the footnote of a famous cake to see how it was made. You want to learn the "how" so you can win too.

If you are a soccer coach, you might study the footnote of a game from 20 years ago to see the team's plan.

But for 99% of people, they just want the result.

If you want to be famous in history, focus on the result. If you want to be an expert who teaches others, focus on the methodology. But remember that the big book of the world usually only has room for the winners.

How can this help you? It can help you stop worrying about the wrong things.

Some people spend years and years making a perfect plan (methodology). They never actually start the work. They are so worried about the methodology being "correct" that they never get to the "win."

Remember: A messy win is better than a perfect plan that never happens.

If your plan isn't getting you results, change the plan! Don't stay with a methodology just because it’s "the way it’s always been done." If it’s not helping you win, it’s a bad tool.

When you finish something great, enjoy it! You don't have to explain every step you took to get there. Let your work speak for itself. The "win" is your trophy.

History might only remember the win, but you are more than a history book. You are a human being who has to wake up every morning and look in the mirror. While you should aim to win—because winning is what stays—you should also try to have a methodology that makes you proud.

If you can win and also be a good person, you have done something even better than being in a history book. You have lived a good life.

But when it comes to how the world remembers you 500 years from now? They won't know if you were tired. They won't know if you were scared. They won't know if you had a perfect plan.

They will only know if you finished the race. They will only know if you built the pyramid. They will only know if you found the cure.

Winning is the "Big Text." Everything else is just a footnote.

To make it very easy to remember, here is a simple table:

Life is a big journey. We all want to do something that matters. We want to leave a mark on the world.

If you want your mark to stay, you must focus on the "Win." You must focus on finishing what you start. You must focus on getting a result that people can see, touch, or use.

Don't get too sad if people don't understand how hard you worked. Don't get angry if they don't see your clever plan. That is just how history works. It has a very short memory for the "how," but a very long memory for the "what."

Be the person who crosses the finish line. Be the person who finds the answer. Be the winner.

The methodology you used to get there was important to you—and it was the bridge that carried you to success. But once you are on the other side, the world will only see you standing on the mountain top.

And that is okay. The view from the top is much better than the view from the footnote.