It’s great to have that winning feeling after last night’s Pittsburgh Penguin win in Game 7 against the Washington Capitals and leading the Eastern conference final of the National Hockey League. Our city loves our Penguins, and it is mostly because of the strong emotion and immense pleasure we experience when we watch them excel. Last night was extraordinary, and we are bursting with pride for Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, the entire team and the city of Pittsburgh.

“You want the feeling of winning, but it’s almost like you don’t ever want that feeling of losing again.” Crosby said, summarizing that what drives him forward is all about how he feels. This proves how powerful feelings are as a motivator, and watching Sidney’s fierce determination, immense satisfaction and compelling expressions of will last night gives one cause to delve into the emotional component of success, accomplishment, and in the case of our young Canadian captain and leader, how his thoughts guide his actions, with sport as the ultimate metaphor.

Your ‘state of being’ ultimately comes down to how you feel, and by paying attention to your feelings, you can better understand and utilize them to reach your goals, whether in athletics, business or in various leadership roles. Sidney has achieved a very clear distinction between how he feels when he wins, versus how he feels when he loses, and this serves as a powerful motivator for him. He likes the feeling of winning profoundly, and can pinpoint it precisely relative to the feeling of loss, and as a result he works single-mindedly to recreate wins.

If you attach an emotional feel good tag to an objective, then it is more likely to occur, because as humans we usually seek pleasure and avoid pain, in a basic innate choice of optimal experience and existence. Attach a positive feeling to your objective, and it is more likely to occur because you have emotionally tagged the outcome. You will go after it, unconsciously and consciously, towards realization.

Your thoughts trigger an emotional state that gives rise to feelings. Elevation of these enable more optimal outcomes. With an orientation to outcomes you choose a more directed approach to your thinking. This thinking is also more aligned, purposeful and strategic. Simple thoughts and observations, and the feeling you create become more directive to the specific outcomes that you seek. Think it, see it, feel it, and experience it.

Thanks to his powerful feelings, not only did Sidney create and experience a perfect win for himself, but also perfection for those watching, and it made us feel oh, so good.