The Mindset of a Competitor: Your Opponent is Not Your Enemy
It’s one thing if you like to win. Everybody likes to win. It’s a totally different thing when you like to compete. Most people don’t like to compete. Instead, they would just rather win. Most people prefer the easy win over an unworthy competitor vs. the tough loss against a worthy competitor. Competitors are the minority, and ultimately the competitors are the ones who rise to the top.
Easy wins over unworthy competitors provide little to no experience, don’t help you improve your skills, and teach you nothing about what to work on to get better. On the other hand, a tough loss provides invaluable experience, humbles you, and teaches you what you need to work on to get better.
So, if you want to be the best you must adopt the mindset of a competitor not the mindset of a winner. Moreover, adopting this mindset starts with NOT seeing your opponents as enemies. NFL Head Coach Pete Carrol provides his take on this mindset in his classic book Win Forever. He states:
My opponents are not my enemies. My opponents are the people who offer me the opportunity to succeed. The tougher my opponents, the more they present me with an opportunity to live up to my full potential and play my best.
The only enemy of a competitor is the enemy within. Some call it the voice of self-doubt. Others describe it as a little voice in your head that attempts to stop you from pushing through pain, fear, and worry. Whatever you call it, that’s the only enemy of a competitor. The opponent is never the enemy.