Rick Torrison explains how whining traps you in victimhood and damages relationships, distinguishing between casual complainers and professional whiners. He cites Paul's instruction to the Philippians to stop grumbling and argues that a winning mindset requires choosing positivity and growth over complaint.
Welcome back everybody to Timeout for leadership. And thanks for continuing to invest in yourself, your own personal growth and your leadership. Everybody whines. Some people are just better at it than others. How many of you guys know a person is a professional whiner? Don't believe me? Here's a quick quiz. Where do you fall on the whiner to winner scale? First question. Have you ever been in the express checkout lane behind someone with more than the 15 item limit? Yeah. Ever know someone who got something they didn't deserve or earned and you made sure others knew about it? Have you ever gossiped? You ever been corrected by someone and your first response is but you don't understand? Ever say it's not fair? If you said yes to any of those, then you might have a whining problem. See, we all have some whining in us. Most of us are ordinary everyday whiners. We can't help ourselves. We justify it by minimizing our whining, making sure people no, we're not as bad as the other professional whiners. So what's the difference between a professional whiner and an everyday ordinary whiner? The difference between a professional whiner and an everyday ordinary whiner is the professionals have convinced themselves that they're not whining at all. They're just stating truth facts. And they find themselves on an island by themselves alone, often settling for far less than they were capable of. Their whining freezes them. See, professional whiners always end up in self pity. I call them Eeyores. Remember Winnie the Pooh? Oh bother. Whining says if only. Whining says why don't they? Or why can't we? Whiners use the term it's not fair often. Or they say things like it's never going to change or it's not my fault and they play the victim. At the end of the day, whining is all about me. The problem. Whining freezes us in failure. Whiners never really win. They may reach their destination and accomplish the objective or finish the project, but the cost for them to get there is high. They typically leave a trail of bruised and worn out relationships behind them. They find themselves isolated and surrounded by other whiners. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun. I love this quote from Paul to the Philippian Church. The context were new believers and they were complaining and grumbling a little bit. They started whining, why do we have to follow all these rules? Why can't we be like everyone else. I loved Paul's response. It was simple, clear, and to the point. Do all things without grumbling or complaining. Man, I've wanted to say that a lot. Have you ever just wanted to say something like this to those whiners in your life? Enough of the whining talk. I'm starting to feel my energy. Leave me just having this conversation about whining. So let's talk about something that I prefer to talk about, and that's winning. As transformational leaders, we are all about winning and creating a winning culture and winning teams in our lives now. I love being around winners, don't you? Those are the people with the positive attitudes. Winning is contagious. There is a positive energy around winners that I love to surround myself with. The more you're around them, the more you believe that you can be a winner, too, that anything's possible. Now let me inject this thought about winning. I'm not talking about the games that we play where some win and some. Some lose. I'm talking about the mindset that believes that we are all winners, that we all can learn, that we all can grow, that we can all accomplish great things. Thanks for tuning in today and join me next week as we share practical tips to turn whining into winning.
