Do you know how to be competitive with yourself?

Many people claim they are competitive by nature. Growing up as athletes, they’ve got an edge.

Even if you weren’t an athlete, there is probably something you claim to be competitive at: Board games, work grind, being right.

But how often do you here people stating they are competitive with themselves?

I’m training as a triathlete. Newbie, novice.

what I’m learning through this is that in order to be the best I can, I have to be competing with myself.

I have to compete with myself because there is no one else but me to rely on. I have an amazing coach that holds me accountable, but at the end of the day, I determine how much I push myself.

I don’t have to do a single workout. I could skip and sleep in, chill and coast.

But I want to. And I want to compete.

This morning for instance, I had a run that was testing my race speed. The first mile was hard. All the negative self talk began immediately saying “you don’t have to do this, you can lie and just pretend you completed it. No one would know.”

And you know what I did? I listened. I stopped about 1/2 mile in even though I was holding a pace I knew I could do.

But here’s the kicker.

I started again.

I didn’t throw in the towel and give up completely. I knew this was to test me. This wasn’t to test how well my coach can program (very well by the way). This was to test and see just how hard I can push and how fast I can go. Recover quick and begin again.

You only race a handful times a year. Or you get evaluated quarterly. There are not many times in our lives we are tested by others.

Which means the only person there to test us is ourselves.

And we are with ourselves every single day.

Holding yourself accountable even when others don’t is the most esteem able act.

Only you can determine your standards. Only you can hold yourself to them in the long run.

Your loved ones love you and just want you to be happy.

You’ll be happy once you start living your life for you, and slowly, or quickly, setting and achieving what you set out to do.