We know all about loving-and-losing: It happens to the best of us through disgust, divorce, or death-or all three, for that matter.

But what about winning: Does the same principle apply? Is it better to have won and lost, than to never have won at all?

I'm not speaking of winning a boxing title and then being stripped of it by the next challenger to dance between the ropes and land a lucky punch. This isn't about becoming Rose Bowl winners that tank to toilet bowl submersion during the next season.

I'm referring to winning in your career, in your vocation.

What will make you happier, not winning to begin with, or winning and then losing it all?

Good news: You got the highest paying job of your career!

The bad news: You just lost the highest paying job of your career and you're unlikely to see that kind of dough ever again.

To paraphrase Tom Sizemore's criminal characterization in the movie, "Heat," he chose to do one more heist, potentially sacrificing a nice stash of cash and a suburban family lifestyle because "For me, the risk IS the juice."

Are you that person, one who can't resist buying a lot of lottery tickets or betting your entire stake on black at the roulette wheel?

Or are you a non-player, a spectator, a sidelines personality?

I went all-out for a tenure-track teaching position at Mr. Chips College. It was an idyllic situation. Perfect spot for a new Ph.D. that had paid his dues by part-timing at a state university for four years.

Jobs, especially good ones, like now, were scarce. But I got mine!

And I resigned after a few months. Launched a consulting practice on a shoestring that paid me ten times more than my professorial post, within two years.

I won, I lost (forfeiting), and I won again.

I like the chance to win, and win big. Sizemore was right: Less is not more.

More is more, and the possibility of much more, is the juice; it makes my engine run like it's a Formula One.

But race cars crash and burn, from time to time.

What do you run on: Regular or rocket fuel?

Figure this out and you'll find your path to success. Stay on it, and you'll win plenty of times!