The Win Autopsy
Why some victories are more dangerous than defeats
You learn more from your losses than your wins. Right?
There's a lot of truth in that. Losses force you to confront what went wrong and where you came up short. They demand attention. Losses suck. But don't get it twisted: if you're only learning from losses, you're leaving half the lesson on the table.
When we lose, we do the post mortem. We analyze and examine the specific breakdowns and try to ensure they don't happen again. But wins can teach you things that losses can't. The problem is we tend to treat all wins the same way—with a quick pat on the back and then it's on to the next thing. We're happy we won and shift our focus to winning the next one. We don't stop to ask why we won or how we won.
That's the mistake.
Not All Wins Are Created Equal
There are wins where you absolutely dominate. Where everything clicks. Where you execute perfectly and the result reflects it.
You need to study those wins. What did you do differently? What decisions put you in position to succeed? What can you replicate?
Then there are wins where you played like garbage and somehow still came out on top. Maybe you got lucky. Maybe the other side made bigger mistakes. Maybe the conditions just worked in your favor.
Those wins are even more important to examine. Because if you don't, you'll mistake luck for skill. You'll think you're better than you are. And then when your luck runs out, you'll be confused about why things stopped working.
The Win Autopsy
Here's what I do after a win:
What actually went well? Not just the outcome, but the process. What decisions, what habits, what preparation paid off?
What went poorly that I got away with? Where did I screw up but avoid consequences? Because those consequences are coming eventually.
What surprised me? What worked that I didn't expect to work? What failed that I thought would succeed?
The goal isn't to feel good about yourself. It's to extract signal from noise. To separate what's working from what's just... working for now.
Why This Matters
If you only learn from losses, you become reactive. You're always fixing problems, plugging holes, preventing the last disaster from happening again. You're triaging instead of building.
But when you learn from wins too, you become proactive. You start to understand what puts you in winning positions. You learn what your biggest strengths are and build on them instead of just patching weaknesses.
You need both.
So the next time you win—like, really win—don't just move on. Sit with it. Study it. Figure out what you did right, what you did wrong, and what you got lucky with.
Because the worst thing you can do is win without knowing why.
And then wonder why you stopped winning.