I like to win.

Most people do.

Being a loser certainly isn’t celebrated.

There are sporting Halls of Fame for the winners.

But the losers just slide off into history and don’t get remembered.

But coming in second place isn’t always that bad.

Like an Olympic athlete who’s only a few hundredths of a second behind the champion, second place does understand achievement as well.

They’ve reaped benefits from the race, even if they didn’t win it.

Why do I bring this up?

Because I lost a race recently.

A friend and I have had a gentlemen’s wager for the past few years to see who could be the first one to travel to 100 countries.

It’s been a wild adventure full of planes, trains, and automobiles.

We’ve met many different and fascinating peoples and cultures.

And have plenty of bizarre stories to share.

But he made it to 100 first.

So I’ve lost the race.

But have I really lost?

Or is second place heartily enriching as well?

It’s like being in business, if you aim to make $1 million but only make $900K, are you really upset?

Or if you aim to make an extra $100K this year, but only make an extra $90K, are you the loser?

Maybe second place really isn’t that bad…

Join me in my 90th country as I discuss this in more detail:

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