Contests have played an important part in our culture and entertainment throughout hundreds and hundreds of years of human history, and undoubtedly existed even before we were able to record our pastimes in words. The concept of running a contest, and having contestants vie for a prize, fame or fortune, has existed in every culture across the globe, and will always exist in one form or another. Indeed, the only thing that really ever changes about contests is the technology we use to run them (and even today, in a technologically advanced society, some of the most popular contests are still the most simple and low-tech).

The earliest contests were, unfortunately, much more violent and presented losers with much more dire and cruel consequences. From the early days of civilization, contests were used to decide who was the most physically powerful in a tribe or town, and there are plenty of examples of contests from ages past where the losers lost more than just their pride; in many cases, these contests saw the second-place finisher lose his family or even his life.

Today, however, you will rarely see a contest in which the loser forfeits his or her life (although those still exist, too, in some remote parts of the world). In most modern societies, the popular contests involve simple games of chance, sweepstakes or drawings. Oftentimes, the most someone can lose in a modern contest is a few dollars or a few minutes of their time.

So, what is the secret to being a consistent winner of contests and building wealth and happiness by entering competitions? Unfortunately, there will always be a modicum of chance involved in any contest, even if it's a competition of skill. If a contest is pure luck, you're inevitably going to lose fifty percent of the time; and if it involves skill, there is bound to be someone out there who is more talented than you are, regardless of the discipline.

In the end, the key to being profitable with contests is twofold: one, by choosing a contest niche in which your own knowledge and skills can give you a bit of an upper hand, and two, by avoiding contests that have a high percentage of losing entrants. By following these two simple rules, and by being consistent, optimistic and playing it smart, you'll eventually start winning contests just a little more than you lose them. And that, my hopeful contestant friend, is the secret to coming out on top!