No Competition

No Competition

      How tough is the competition? From racing we probably think it is pretty tough. However, the lessons we learn from athletic competition can lead to success in other life pursuits.

No Competition!

Perhaps this entire blog site is devoted to this one big issue – what do we learn through athletics that makes and enhances all aspects of our lives? For this post, let’s just focus on competition, and how much competition there really is in our daily pursuits. This is a metaphor that literally and directly helps us in all other aspects of life.

First, we need clarity of vision. What goals do we want to accomplish? We can have a vision for what we want to accomplish spiritually, professionally, socially, and physically. This is what gives us our direction and motivation. We need to spend a good deal of time defining and clarifying our vision in every important aspect of life. We need to see it, feel it, and believe it.

Next, we need to have solid strategies that help us move toward our goals. The strategies are the methods that we use as we move toward the vision that we have already clarified. Our strategies need to reflect and support our values, as well as challenging us to reach our goals. We need a solid set of well defined strategies for each major goal we want to accomplish in life.

Lastly, and most importantly, we need excellent execution to make it happen. When we look and observe, perhaps the most common denominator in successful individuals and organizations is consistent execution over an extended period of time.

The beauty of this is that most folks simply are not willing to do it. They do not have the perseverance or desire to do the work necessary on an ongoing basis. They are not willing to pay the price it takes to effectively execute the strategies. When it gets down to execution, there is no competition.

For example, I am often asked “How do you do it” referring to triathlons. To me, the answer seems easy and obvious – I have trained virtually every day for 27 plus years. It is as simple as that. Note that the vision has been modified from being more competitive-based to one based on  a lifestyle of health and fitness for my family and me.

A very interesting statistic is that 90 percent of all people who pay to go to a self help program or seminar never do one single thing they learned after leaving. They want to hear the vision, but they simply are not willing to follow through with execution. Our willingness, desire, and training to execute is what separates us from the competition in life.

All of this is good news for us because all we have to do is keep on going in order to beat the competition. Keep putting one foot in front of the other just like out on the racecourse. If we do, in the race of life, there is very little competition. This is how and where we will succeed.

Ready for the competition,

David

*** Ironman Everyday Hero article and T.V. excerpt Video are now up***