Set the Bar Higher
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.”
- Oscar Wilde
Did you hear that?
That collective sigh of relief.
That sound came from 99% of the population after hearing that “they only need to compete with themselves”. I can hear them, they’re saying, “Finally, I don’t have to try to be much better than I am right now.”
This is all I hear, “You only need to compete with yourself. Just be better tomorrow than you were today.”
Why is this bad? Because most human beings are lazy and have no drive to be better than they are right now. It’s happening all around us. The “Quiet Quitters” the “Minimal Monday’s”. The GenZ who want all the good things but haven’t come to the realization that society doesn’t give trophies to everyone and that there IS a HUGE scoreboard.
The Root of the Problem
This phrase (Only compete with yourself) was developed by high-performance coaches who were working with the best people in their fields. The idea that one only competed with themselves was an attempt to stop the athlete / performer from overthinking.
Then an athlete says, “I only need to compete with myself, and be better tomorrow than I am today”, in an interview. A fast-talking flim-flam person takes these words and embellishes them in a bedazzled presentation and voila you have suckered the masses.
What a self-defeating mantra! This type of thinking only works for those who are truly motivated to make themselves better. To 99% of the population, they have just been told, “It’s futile to try to be the best, so just be happy with what you are doing”.
The reason is that most people don’t want to put in the effort EVERY DAY. Oh sure, they want to be successful, but only within certain limits. They only want to work until closing. They want to have their weekends.
We see this today with politicians pushing for a four-day work week. Studies show us that most workers only put in 4 hours of work each day. In a five-day work week they will put in, on average, 20 hours of work each week.
Now if we devolve into a four-day work week do you think we’ll get the 20-hours of work?
Of course not. Workers have become conditioned to only putting in four hours of work. Even though they are in the workplace 10-hours a day instead of the customary 8-hour workday we will only get 16-hours of work. MAYBE!
Limits
Let’s say you started walking today for exercise. Today, you walked once around the track. That was your goal. And then you hopped in your car and drove home. Tomorrow, you walk once around the track and add one step. You win! You are better today than you were yesterday. Could you have made it halfway around the track on your second day? Sure, but I only have to be “better” and one step is “better”.
You get what I’m saying? If you add one more step a day, are you getting as good as you can be? Wouldn’t pushing yourself to walk as far as you can each day be better?
If we take this concept to the business world, will we not see people shutting down earlier in the week because they made one more sales call than they did in the previous week? And it’s only Wednesday. Could they have done more? Sure. Did they “need” to? Not under the new guidelines. “You only need to compete with yourself. Just be better tomorrow than you were today.”
Thank You
I’m just making you aware of this mental conditioning that is brainwashing our society.
This “non-competitive competition” doesn’t bother me in the least.
I say, “Thank you” to those who are propagating the myth that you don’t need to compete to be the best at whatever you are doing. The reason I don’t care is that it clears out my path to becoming the best. I will push every day to be better than Craig Valentine, Jeanne Robertson, Les Brown, Patricia Fripp and others. These people set the bar, I want to set the bar higher, that’s how alpha competitors are wired.
There will always be a part of society that only wants to be the best. They are content with being “good when great is within reach”.
As more and more people take their foot off their gas pedals, the competitive side of society will continue to push themselves to be uncommon. To be Elite. To be better than everyone else.
As society continues to lower the bar to make sure everyone gets their piece of paper, to get their recognition or to find an easier path to their goals there always will be one thing that will never change; societies desire to only have the best. This does not change.
And the gap will widen. The people who only compete with themselves will feel detached. They’ll call the people who do push to be the best “privileged” or “outliers”. Why? Because they are willing to sacrifice the average to become the best.
So, it’s up to you. Push yourself to not only be better, but to come as close to being the best with what you are working with or just watch as other people pass you by?
Because like I once said, “It’s a choice: Move or Die.”
Have an amazing day!
