There is nothing wrong with fierce competition.
Nothing wrong with wanting to be the best and running a race that leaves everyone else behind. There is nothing wrong with any of it, provided that climbing the precipice of victory on the tired backs of your family and friends, or even perfect strangers for that matter, is not your hidden objective.
Our happiness, the fulfillment of our dreams, largely depends on how we frame our thoughts regarding the spirit of competition. That unquenchable competitive fire must burn inside all of us but it is our responsibility to control it, and we must always be its main target.
True competition is an internal batter. You vs you. Today vs tomorrow.
Some of us are more talented than others or we simply lack that certain something which we admire in others. Being winners or losers is not important. It is pragmatic side effect. An uninteresting footnote which bears no importance if you see the abundance of the universe, and its capabilities to provide enough of anything for everyone.
Part of the reason I write each morning is in this spirit of competition.
I compete against myself.
I compete against the slow, somewhat pudgy and sweaty, tired, unproductive self, I am leaving behind. I simply wish to silence him and prevent him from ever making any more decisions in my life.
I am nurturing my many talents, which is quite the thing to say, since not that long ago, I hid from the world and pretended I had very little to contribute.
Playing shy is not part of the spirit of competition.
I had sadly allowed my life and my talents to lay dormant and undiscovered for years. There was always someone else who beat me and had done it first. The market was and continues to be overcrowded. Most importantly, there is lots of time, there is always another tomorrow.
When you reach your forty fifth birthday, that last statement unravels some of the other myths.
I have always taken the safe, minimalist approach. I rarely competed, or for any long periods of time. I did not push myself. I did not dream out loud.
That has all changed. It has all changed with the Ten Minas, the parable of the talents.
I had to break my mindset of believing I was the undeserving servant with only one talent, disingenuously happy to be alive, with whatever scraps everyone else didn’t want or accidently left behind.
I realize that there is an abundance of things I am good at and so much that I want to accomplish before I die.
There is no plan B anymore.
There is less dreaming and more work. After all, the great journey begins with a single step, but more importantly, you must raise your foot, if you’re going to kick some ass.
I plan on kicking some ass.
I intend to compete with myself. To push my thoughts and abilities with tremendous tenacity, so that I can participate in life, by living, and not merely existing.
I hope you join me.
I hope you join my tribe.
Let’s go and make a ruckus!
