Never Settle For Less

Inside the Mind of a Sprinter

Put yourself inside the mind of an Olympic sprinter right before a race takes place.  Since childhood you’ve dreamed of this moment and its finally here.  All your blood, sweat, tears, weight training, and mental preparation are about to pay off.  As you shed your warm up gear you and your coach connect eyes for a split second.  He smiles, gives you a nod, and waves you off to the starting line.

The other sprinters are already in place as you take your lane.  You take your final glance around the stadium and then get into your stance.  Instinctively your ears perk up as you await the starter’s gun.  Every muscle in your body tightens with anticipation.  Right before you can relax it happens.

On your marks…get set…GO!

Your feet tap the pavement quickly and you begin to separate yourself from the pack.  Halfway through the race the crowd roars.  Out of the corner of your eye you see another sprinter coming even with you.

What do you do?

Do you fold and let him win, remain nonchalant and hope for the best, or dig deep and pull out the victory?

By the end of this article I plan on giving you the information needed to dig deep and compete to win.

Barriers to Competition

For millions of years humans have been competing. By competing I don’t necessarily mean a sporting event or a battle.  It can simply be a disagreement of principles or ideas.

Even though the urge to compete is an essential part of our being many of us take the easy road and avoid it.  Competition is avoided for 2 reasons:

1. Aversion to Conflict
2. Fear of Failure

Aversion to Conflict

It’s amazing when you realize what is considered a conflict these days.  If you form and stick to an opinion that isn’t shared by others then you just may be labeled “disagreeable”, “antagonistic”, or “unpleasant”.  Even if you know the building is going to explode in 5 minutes you shouldn’t tell anyone.  That’s not being very PC .

Have we become so obsessed with “goodness” that we turn a blind eye when something actually needs to be addressed?
It makes me smile when I hear “We can’t talk about that”,”You might not want to say that”, or “What did you just say !?!?”.  These are signs that we’ve stopped tap dancing and starting getting to the root of the issue.  Heads may be rolling but at least things are getting figured out.  What’s so “unpleasant” about that?

Fear of Failure

That little voice in our head can get to the best of us.  It’s remarkably easy to let fear of the unknown totally dominate your life.  Look at the bad things that could happen to us out in the world:

• You could lose money
• You could be rejected
• You could fall flat on your face
• You could lose credibility
• Your may end up with nothing to show for it
• You could end up on YouTube with less money, rejected, flat on your face, less credible, nothing to show for it, with some apple pie on your face

OH NO! The apocalypse is coming.
Seriously, any failure in competition is temporary and should be treated as such. When I was 11 years old I cost my football team a regular season game.  Near the end of the game I threw 2 interceptions that sealed the deal.  I thought the world was going to collapse upon my tiny shoulders.  3 hours after the game I stopped crying due to lack of water in my body.

The sting of that loss stayed with me for a few days.  I moved around the house with little interest in anything beyond moping.  After my father tired of it he basically told me in his straight forward fashion  “suck it up, it’s not the end of the world, move on”.  It wasn’t the nicest thing he’s ever said but it was definitely effective.
People tend to make mountains out of mole hills when it comes to those things they fear.  I just don’t think fears should dominate us.  When you run across something that scares you ask yourself one simple question:

“What good comes from being afraid?”

The answer: “none”.

Avoid letting aversion of “conflict” and fear of failing bury your competitive spirit.  Keeping that competitive spirit alive will always do more for society than letting it die (no matter how large or small the impact).

Competition is Natural

Look around you at all the competition going on:

1. Coke vs Pepsi
2. Yahoo! vs Google
3. Home Depot vs Lowe’s
4. Wal-Mart vs Target
5. Microsoft vs Apple
6. McDonald’s vs Burger King
7. Yankees vs Red Sox
8. MySpace vs Facebook
9. HBO vs Showtime
10. Disney World vs Six Flag

This list could easily go on for days.  I’m sure you get the picture.  Without competition our society would not enjoy the benefits we have in the past,enjoy today, or will enjoy in the future.  Shouldn’t you embrace your competitive side and add your value?

Conclusion

Embrace competition in your life.  Whether it be a simple dispute or an all out sporting event.  The positives will outweigh the negatives . Feelings may be hurt temporarily but the lessons that come along with those feelings last a lifetime.  Competition, conflicts, or whatever you choose to call them bring the best out of people.

Don’t be afraid to step out there and expose yourself.  Only then will you know where you truly stack up and how to improve upon your current situation.

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Everybody has one.  It follows you EVERYWHERE and you never notice it.  It effects every decision you make, every challenge that arises, and every interaction.  When it comes it brings with it feelings of fear, terror, disgrace, and unworthiness.

Most of the time the feelings are subtle but just enough to tie us to the ground.  Just enough to stop you when you’re at the brink of great action.

You would think that something that follows you EVERYWHERE would be easy to spot…It isn’t.

You would think that something that effects all your decisions would be easily heard…It’s silent.

You would think that something that’s with you through every challenge would smell like hard work…It has no scent.

You would think that something able to affect all your interactions could be touched and felt…It can’t.

I call this monster the Inner Coward.  It’s been known to rear its ugly head in a million and one different ways

• Racing Heartbeat
• Sweaty hands
• Inability to concentrate
• Nervousness
• Dry Mouth
• Excuses for days

Here’s the terrible thing…our weaknesses are its strengths.  Failing and staying down only makes it taller and more ominous.  Fear makes it stronger and more dominating. Nervousness makes the inner coward giddy with excitement.   Slowness to act makes the inner coward rise to the occasion faster.

Since we know its there we can now work on killing it once and for all.

How do you shrink it?

The Inner Coward thrives and grows when we fail and stay down.  When you’re laying prone it stands over you to claim its space.  Appearing tall and powerful as you struggle to regain composure.

When you stand up it shrinks and loses its will and position.
How do you make it weaker?
Every time you back down from a challenge the Inner Coward gains strength.  Face your fears head on.  Take baby steps at first and progressively work your way up.  He uses that strength to suppress your desires later.

Learn to manage your fears and steal his strength at the same time.
How do you calm it down?

The inner coward absolutely loves for you to be nervous.  While you struggle with anxiety and nervousness he twitches wildly with excitement.  Each time you get nervous he gets more energetic.  If you don’t watch it he’ll soon be bouncing off the walls.
He doesn’t deserve that type of power and energy.  Take it away from him by handling your nerves.

How do you keep it buried below the surface?

When you sit still that monster moves.  The longer you are inactive the more active he becomes.  He lulls you into a comfortable sense of complacency.  If you allow him too much room to operate he’ll push you down every time you get ready to take a step.

Keep him at bay by remaining active.  Seek challenges, action, and opportunity.

The inner coward is nasty, intelligent, and formless.  We all duel with our own version daily.  He can be big, strong, quick, and aggressive if we allow him to be.

We can also choose to make him small, weak, slow, and passive.  Once we’ve weakened him substantially he shrivels up and dies.  Don’t feel sorry for him when the time comes.  Has he ever felt sorry for you?
If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on entries RSS, and select the page you’d prefer.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!