“You owe it to your philosophy to learn how to win.”

-Morton Blackwell

More often than not, we are apathetic about our learning and our advocacy. We pass off reading and growth of knowledge as something we are too busy to do, and fighting for a cause becomes a task for everyone else. We don’t even think about winning, because we are too busy passing off the tasks that lead up to it.

In any area of life, there is a simple algorithm that must be followed: LEARN :: FIGHT :: WIN. You can’t fight for something that you don’t know about, and it’s no use fighting if you don’t know how to fight to win. It’s a three step process that’s crucial for every victory in your life, from the political to the personal.

 

LEARN

 

You and you alone are in charge of your learning. No one else can force you to do it, no matter how hard they may try. If you want to remain in the dark for the rest of your life, that will be the simplest route to take. However, if you want to strive for knowledge, it will take work.

Read. Constantly. Read everything you can by everybody you can. Read books; read journal articles; read websites that interest you. If you don’t read, you don’t grow.

Talk and listen to people who are smarter than you. Learn about the mistakes of others. Get varying opinions and attend conferences and trainings. There is no wrong way to learn something and to gain knowledge; you just have to start.

 

FIGHT

 

Knowledge without the inclination to fight will just result in snobby people who contribute nothing when it comes to changing the world. If you are passionate about something and you’re gaining knowledge, you need to take the next step and fight.

Become a political advocate. Strive to implement the health changes you’ve been reading about into your life. Fight to follow Christ in step with what you’re learning from Scripture.

 

WIN

 

Finally, you can learn all you want and struggle to be a fighter…and still never win. Winning takes strategy, intentionality.

To win the battle against sin, it may be simple to just learn a lot of Scripture and try your absolute hardest; you could argue that you were both learning and fighting at that point. However, victory comes from the Holy Spirit through the cross of Christ, and therefore, even your learning and your fighting will not continuously end in winning.

If you are on a campaign, you may be well read on political philosophy and have your volunteers out door knocking every minute of the day. However, unless you utilize proper campaign strategy and tactics, you will have a very well intentioned campaign that ends in loss, not victory.

You may have realized by this point, but LEARN :: FIGHT :: WIN is not a chronological thing – it is circular. Although winning usually comes as the conclusion to preceding actions, learning and fighting go hand-in-hand. We should be engaged in both at all times.

Learn, fight, win. See change in all areas.