Loving to win vs hating to lose

In regulatory focus theory, people fall on a spectrum from being promotion-focused to prevention-focused. Colloquially, people talk about this as loving to win or hating to lose. While these approaches may feel like two sides of the same coin, they affect one's desire to engage in competition.

The difference in orientation sheds light on how people are motivated and how they go about achieving their goals. If you love to win, you're focused on the absolute result. How others fare has little to do with how you assess your performance. On the other hand, if you hate to lose, you're driven by the relative result. In other words, your self-satisfaction comes from knowing that you didn't mess up and that you did better than your competitors.

So, reflect and put yourself in situations where your disposition is a competitive advantage.