COMPETE EVERY DAY
How’s Your Perspective
This week’s Monday Motivation is a reminder about the importance of perspective. How you view an obstacle determines your attitude & actions.
Look at David & Goliath. Every Israelite was terrified of Goliath. They saw the giant as an impossible victory. But not David. David had a different perspective – one in which he knew he would win – and acted accordingly.
Do the obstacles we face in life hinder us and hold us paralyzed with fear? Or do we view them as possible victories?
My 3 Words for 2016
What will define your 2016?
Each year, I anxiously anticipate Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words..” blog post. It’s become tradition to read the post, meditate, and set the theme for my own key words of 2016. It also become my annual challenge to live outside of my comfort zone because these three words are to hold me accountable for the next 365 days.
Here’s how it works (taken from ChrisBrogan.com): (more…)
How You Should Finish 2015
Can you believe it?
Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship game provided something most football fans have never seen – a 22-play, nine-minute, game-winning drive. It is almost unheard of for a team to step-by-step, move their way down the field a few yards at a time. Most times struggle after 8-10 plays, much less double that. Yet, Michigan State stuck to their gameplan and moved down the field, a few yards at a time.
At the one-yard line, with 33 seconds left, LJ Scott refused to be kept out of the endzone in a play of sheer determination & heart.
And it set the perfect blueprint for how you should finish the last few weeks of 2015. (more…)
Stopping After 18 Minutes
There is a funny quote on Instagram that goes through every CrossFitter’s head during the course of a 20-minute, “as-many-reps-as-possible” workout. It goes:
- 0:25 – 1st round under 30 seconds, I’m going to kill this workout
- 1:15 – started too fast, can’t breathe
- 5:00 – where is the chalk bucket?
- 10:00 – half way? Screw my life..
- 15:00 – that damn clock is broken..
- 18:00 – coach is watching, keep moving, don’t die.
- 20:00 – oh thank goodness
- 25:00 (5 minutes post-workout): that wasn’t too bad, I could’ve gotten another round
Every person I’ve showed that to who has experienced a 20-minute workout like this immediately laughs. They know the feeling. They remember wanting to absolutely die during the workout. They remember staring in disbelief that it’s only been 10-minutes of the 20 minute workout. And they all remember the thoughts in their head of quitting.
The thoughts that at minute 16:00 say, “you can stop now, just slow down.” Or perhaps the ones at minute 18:00 encouraging you to pack it in early. Seriously, you just poured yourself out for 18 minutes and you’d honestly consider quitting with 120 seconds left?
That’s like picking up the football at your own 1-yard-line, juking the entire defense twice, and then laying down at the opponents two-yard-line, just short of a touchdown because you got “tired.” Of course you wouldn’t do that. You’d dive into the endzone having received your goal.
Same applies to life. (more…)
Being Realistic
“Be realistic.”
Those two words are the most damaging to your dreams. “Being realistic” is accepting things as they are and lowering your goals. “Being realistic” means changing your dreams to fit inside their expectations of what you’re capable. “Being realistic” means living by their rules.
Not your own.
“Be realistic” is the phrase people tell you when they lack the vision to dream as big as you do – and the willpower to pursue dreams of that magnitude. It’s not that you can’t. It’s that they can’t, so therefore they assume you can’t. It’s a good thing your life isn’t dictated by what they believe to be reality. It’s dictated by what you do.
Don’t “be realistic” – be outrageous. Be flamboyant. Be wild.
Be YOU. Dream YOUR dreams. Set YOUR goals. Create YOUR life. Refuse to “be realistic.”
Dream big. Live bigger. Always.
Why You Should Never Ever Quit
“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes
I thought the season was lost April 1. Two of our best pitchers out – one of them for the entire season. A 7-15 start to the season put the Texas Rangers into an 8.5 game hole to state & division rival Houston.
Despite a rally during May-June, the team was still six games out of the division lead on July 1. A brutal July slid the team to 8 games back on August 1 and a 1% chance to win the American League West. One month later that number had only grown to 4% chance of winning the division.
For a team that lost its ace (Yu Darvish) before the season even started, another starter (Derek Holland) just an inning into the year, and fielded a team with some castoffs from rival teams (Delino DeSheilds, Josh Hamilton), expectations were low. The team would put on a short streak, and then the next month, go ice cold.
But something happened. The team refused to quit. (more…)
How Travel Helped Me Reach My Goals
I’ve been driving all over the United States since I started Compete Every Day back in 2011. Like many of you, I planned out my road trips with the best music playlists & invested in XM/Sirius Satellite Radio in order to get my favorite sports talk no matter where I was. In 2013, I shifted to audiobooks, cranking out two of my favorites, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (affiliate link), & Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I loved getting lost on the open highway in a great book.
But that was simply a way to help me pass the time. It wasn’t helping me improve how I served others or how Compete Every Day operated. And then I got hooked on podcasts. (more…)
Who Am I To Speak Up In This Situation?
I read and reread this post at least six times before hitting publish. Maybe ten. Part of me says write to just get it off your chest. The other half argues back that there has to be someone out there feeling the same way – and feeling just as alone when issues like today arise to the forefront of the news.
I don’t really feel as though I have a platform for this. Many of you will check out 1-2 sentences into today’s post. Others may doubt my credibility on the subject matter. I am a white, middle-class American male. I have seen racism & profiling first hand. I’ve seen friends pulled over for nothing more than being of a darker skin color. I’ve seen applicants passed over because of their gender. I’ve seen a lot, but I haven’t been the victim of racism myself. I feel inadequate for what I’m about to write, but am so compelled to do something. (more…)
To Compete is to Act
Seth Godin just posted about the circus. “The circus doesn’t wait to be called. They show up. They show up and sell tickets.”
In other words, they don’t wait for the invitation. They don’t hesitate or look for permission. They don’t ask if “it’s ok” to be there.
They just act.
The world is deprived of great art by those who wait. (more…)
Success In Life Mainly Comes Down to This
Every blog article & social media post you see in regards to success all claim to have the “one magic formula” to transform you from tired goal-setter to successful goal-crusher. Each one subscribes to a different methodology. It’s quite easy to read through article after article, and yet walk away still thoroughly confused on what will get you from point A (the “now”) to point B (“victory).
We each come from a different background and set of circumstances, and almost all of us have a different goal. Many of you are focused on your sports’ goals. You want to lift “x” amount of weight. Reach “x” level of competition. And win at your sport’s highest level. Others are wanting to start their first business, or perhaps they already have, and are stuck in the midst of the early stages, continually beating their head against the wall in attempt to find the “magic” idea that will change everything overnight. And yet others have set personal health or financial goals, are can’t seem to wrap their mind around why they have yet to hit the same win’s as those “friends” they follow on Facebook.
Regardless of your goal, you are not alone in feeling stuck. We see success all over social media, and in turn begin to compare our “behind the scenes mess with their Sportscenter social media highlight reel.” (credits: Steven Furtick). We become frustrated. Isn’t there one thing I can do to finally get over this “hump” and hit my own journey’s tipping point?
Yes, there is. (more…)