How to Win

In which John talks about the keys to winning in life, sports, and everything else while discussing The Walsall Event.

AFC WImbledon's survival in League One is coming down to the last couple games, and boy am I tense. But in this video I wanted to talk about how luck and support matter hugely when it comes to success, so does Barry Fuller picking up the ball and running it back to the center circle.

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[vlogbrothers]

UPDATE: The AFC Wimbledon game is over, and IT ENDED 0-0! WIMBLEDON ARE STAYING UP! Congrats to the Dons!!
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I AM BELTING OUT MOANA SONGS. THE RELIEF IS OVERWHELMING.
9:44 PM UPDATE: WOMBLES GOING UP FRANCHISE GOING DOWN STILL SO HAPPY. HAD A COUPLE DRINKS TO CELEBRATE. BARRY FULLER SAW MY VIDEO. I LOVE HIM. -John

[Kyle-fkhu]

"what happens to have happened" -- I like that phrase

[supremegeek]

Holy damn, that was a quality video. In true Vlogbrothers form, you brought a discussion of something I'm not normally interested in around to a really profound and meaningful point. As someone who has lost more games than he's won recently, I feel pretty inspired by the Walsall Event, and by your well-spoken words. Thanks, John.

[eddielong]

Its like he knows when its finals season

[lawrencecalablaster]

It matters not who won or lost
Nothing is the score you made
Fame is a petal that curls in the frost
But I will remember how you played.
- from Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett

[carly]

Like Stephen Daedalus said nearly a century ago “Every life is many days, day after day” (Joyce, 9.1048), and i suppose victory is like that in a way. Many small moments (like the one you described), moment after moment. Wishing AFC Wimbledon the best of luck!

[anilatarannum]

I am supposed to take an exam(specifically the most competitive exam in my country) in a month, and for many reasons, I hadn't been preparing for it all this while. I was still going to study for it now but deep down, I started believing that I am not going to make it. And so I was not giving my all, setting myself up for failure. I have tears in my eyes now. Thanks John. Those last words are EXACTLY what I needed right now. I'll get my ass off YouTube. Thanks so so much ❤️

[rosey]

I didn't know I needed this video, but tears in my eyes tell me I definitely did. Thank you, John. <3

[mary-gxcl]

“you have to hope, and you have to go on even when you have lost more games than you have won” - some beautiful prose by the motivation genius that is John Green

[JKajdi]

I come back to this video so often, mainly because it lives rent free in my head, but just to remind myself:

"You have to pick up the ball and run it back to midfield and believe, in spite of it all, that this game is still winnable."

Thank you for everything, but especially for this.

[Rakkis]

"That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."
-The Cheesiest of Whitman quotes.

[kerrinwhipple]

So does the Wimbledon team know all about Nerdfighteria? What do they think of us?

[sophiaderrick]

... this hit a chord in my depressed little heart after getting tons of rejections from summer research internships and frequently feeling like my dream of being a good physicist is impossible. Thank you for the optimism 💗

[astroilmagnifico]

How poetic would it be for Wimbledon to stay up and MK Dons to be relegated...

[samirasaad]

Every time I feel like giving up, I go back to this video. I have watched it countless times at this point, but it still never fails to make me feel a little bit better than I did before. Thank you.

[journalsbysophie]

Only you can make football so interesting and make a deep metaphor from a single event in a football match. I really love this video. I also needed this video right now so thank you John.

[firefly-fez]

This video means the world to me. 2017 sucked. I lost everything I've ever taken for granted and had to rely so much on stores of resilience I didn't even know I had. The cherry on top of that sucktastic year: I was rejected from the university I wanted to attend because I didn't perform well enough on an admissions test. The very same exam, I re-sit in exactly a week from now. Every time I've despaired over my circumstance, how I didn't want to be here, how life wasn't supposed to go this way, every time I've convinced myself I'm a failure and doubted what I'm capable of, I come back to watch this video to remind myself that despite it all, this game is still winnable. I take great comfort in knowing that whenever I feel lost, this video is there to remind me not to give up on myself. Thanks, John I really needed to hear this. :) DFTBA

[NateandNoahTryLife]

Thank You John. I feel like you and hank believe in me when I can’t believe in myself.

[rascalguy]

I love this video. Its my favorite Vlogbrothers video. It gets me fired up about whatever i have to do on a given day and i have watched it more than a few times. My criticism is that how the ball bounces is completely deterministic and can very much be controlled by who ever kicks the ball.

[TheHippieGeeks]

A beautiful sentiment for anything in life. It is so easy for someone to tell you to just keep trying and it will all work out, but it is even easier to forget these small moments in all of our lives when fate hinged on the smallest of moments and changed life forever. We remember the times where things went wrong more often, because that is human nature, but there are so many more times where it has gone right that we forget too often. We are all created by what happens to have happened, as you put it so simply, so often for the better. Thank you.