Two years ago I wrote about how winning isn’t about prizes. It’s a feeling. Today, I want to talk about how winning also a journey, that’s not a straight line. Similar to life.

You would think winning prizes is a straight line. Find sweepstakes. Enter sweepstakes. Win sweepstakes. Collect the prize. Simple right?

Yes and no.

That is how it works, but what isn’t the straight line is each part.

The hobby is always evolving. Where you find sweepstakes has changed. How you enter sweepstakes has changed. How you are notified of a win has changed. Even how you collect a prize has changed.

Let me elaborate.

NOTE: This isn’t 100% as call-in radio contests have not changed, but you get the idea. I am also truncating each point as there are endless facets.

FIND Decades ago you would seek out original entry blanks in the grocery stores. They slowly disappeared as sweepstakes moved online.

ENTER You would purchase products to get qualifiers (labels, box tops, etc.). Now you look for PIN codes. You used to mail-in entries. Now you enter online or social media.

WIN You used to receive a phone call or a letter in the mail. Now you get an email or a tag on social media.

RECIEVE Prizes used to arrive by mail or courier. You can now receive virtual gift cards or codes to claim prizes online.

The hobby I started 20 years ago has changed in ways I couldn’t imagine. At 54 I am learning how to use TikTok.

That is the joy of the journey. The fun of the hobby. The experiences I am having. The friends I am making. The teachers I am connecting with. AND the prizes I am winning.

Over the past two decades, I have met so many sweepers that fight the changes. They are resistant to the new entry methodologies. Frustrated they can’t find entry blanks in stores. Frustrated having to learn a raft of new technologies.

Resisting is pointless.

  1. Sponsors do not care. They are using new marketing techniques that will help them keep customers, connect to prospects and engage the general public, which in turn will lead to sales. If you don’t get it, you are the only one that loses.
  2. What do you think all that negative energy does to your hobby? If you feel miserable each time you fill out an online form or create a social post, do you think you will win?

Like life, it is better to embrace changes with positivity and enjoy all the lessons and experiences each chapter brings.

NOTE: I know some changes come with grief, sadness, etc. and I am in no way diminishing that we as humans have a vast array of joyful and painful experiences. However, when entering giveaways, it’s best to do that in the most positive frame of mind you can muster at the moment. You can read: The Country Music Song of Sweepstakes or How Long Would You wait to Win Big? where I expand on this topic.

I had seen a video a long time ago of Anthony Meindl explaining his path and on one side he drew a straight line (how we think his journey went) and on the other a line that goes in cray directions to end up in the same place (how his journey actually went) and his point was; life isn’t a direct route. For love nor money, I could not find that video. Instead, I am sharing the one he created recently with a similar point as life is a journey.

How windy a road has your sweepstakes hobby been?