Trophy season is upon us….competition, acknowledgement and award shows, that are packed with heartwarming memories, infamous moments and even bureaucratic agendas. Some even offer prizes to publicize noteworthy or exemplary behavior that might offer incentives for improving outcomes through competitive efforts. The prestige for the recipient, depending on the status of the award, can even become their identity, being known thereafter for winning the award, rather than for any other achievement or occupation ie Grammy Winning Songwriter, 4-Time Oscar Winner, Super Bowl Champion.

Image Credit GrassrootsMotorsports.com

I’ve been wanting to write about this for awhile, but was reluctant. Guess I needed to wait until another Social Media “you’re it list” with me on it came out, so I wouldn’t appear to be some green-eyed monster.  You know the ones,“TOP 50 People in <insert industry/category here>.”  With a plethora of reasoning from analytic, algorithms, opinion, achievements, hits, number of followers, number of replies, follower to followee ratio, responses, retweets, likes, +1′s, amount of people circling you, hits on Youtube, Kred, Klout, Peekyou score, SEO, best selling book, Alexa Ranking, best looking website, best content, most engaging, most clever, funniest…OhEMgee ad infinitum!

Whew…I got a overwhelmed just thinking of all that and writing it.

#WINNING? 

It is ALWAYS flattering to be on ‘the list’, but what about when you are not?  If being honest with yourself, it can screw with your head either way.

Keep this in mind, even when Charlie Sheen was losing his mind in real-time, he thought he was #winning and looking back, he might have been right. New show, possible reconciliation with Ex (or least amicable vacation taking together multiple times) and a plethora of endorsements. You do the math.

Let’s say, you are on the list, now is it considered brag-a-douchery to be tweeting and posting about it? And/or is it disrespectful to the person who put you on the list to not promote it?  IF you do, odds are, you keep getting put on more lists because someone saw you post the last one, but if you don’t post the next one you might hurt the postees (is that a word?) feelings.

It is a conundrum of sorts. Not that I lose sleep over it, but it can cause a pause for me.

THAT AWKWARD MOMENT…WHEN

You see all your friends on a list, but you’re not on it and you doubt yourself? Maybe you get jealous, or the opposite, you react in a self-deprecating way thinking you’re not worthy and might even start discounting good things you’ve done.

It’s not your fault. We are trained to be competitive from the time we are young, and some people might even carry shame from being the last picked in Gym class.  Trust me, I wasn’t always as cool as I am now. Yeah, right. I am still a dork. And proud to be a dork.

“From schoolyard chants to Super Bowl championships, playful competition finds its way into nearly all aspects of culture. Fighting to win draws on cooperation, concentration, coordination, and creativity–things worth striving for in their own right,” says Psychology Today. We are just wired to want to be the winner.

LOSING SUITS ME FINE

In the immortal lyrics of Country Music Legend Randy Travis:

“I’m going back to a better class of loser, This up-town living’s really got me down.
I need friends who don’t pay their bills on home computers, And who buy their coffee beans already ground.
You think it’s disgraceful that they drink three-dollar wine. But a better class of loser suits me fine.”

“Polling various stakeholders in a range of verticals, the decidedly un-scientific result is this unique compilation of key social web players ranging from industry execs and startup entrepreneurs to celebrities and self-branding masterminds,” was the definition of one list I was recently included on. Even with this disclaimer, I noticed a few people both on, and off the list, complaining about their positions, or non-positions. Maybe they missed the part that said, “decidedly un-scientific”.

My Gramma always said, “a job worth doing, is worth doing well”.  If you are satisfied with the energy, thought and performance you put into your career and life, as the song says, “a better class of losers, just suits me fine”.

What’s your take on lists and awards? Are you a #Winner or a #Loser?
I am ok with being a Loser. I like me.

(I would have embedded the video for “Better Class of Losers,” but embedding was disabled. For a great song from an early 90′s Country Crooner check out Randy Travis’ video.)

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