“Swimmers, take your mark,” the speakers bellowed.
I pulled myself up to the block, my knees tight against my chest, my arms now at a ninety degree angle, my body almost entirely raised out of the water. “Phreeeeet!” the whistle squealed. I threw myself back, my body cutting through the water like a knife; the race was off.
Through middle school and high school, I had the opportunity to compete with a local swim team over the summers. I was by no means the next Micheal Phelps, but I was competitive.
The last swim meet of the season was called “City Meet.” It was unique because instead of two teams coming to face each other, all sixteen teams in the region would compete during the three day long event. My team was a mid-division team and I was good enough to have a spot competing for points, but certainly not the best backstroke swimmer in my age group. As a matter of fact, I had actually never won a race against the two other guys on my team who swam for points!
During City Meet I set a new personal best time, but still not as fast as those other two guys! Nonetheless, as the judges read off the top sixteen times in my backstroke age group, I was hopeful that I had qualified for the semifinals. Starting with first place the names were read off through the loudspeakers. The top eight were called without my name. No biggie, I didn’t expect to be in the top eight. Then the next four were read off. Both my teammates qualified; I did not. Then the next three… Finally, sixteenth place was read through the speakers, “The sixteenth fastest qualifying time is—” I held my breath in anticipation, “Reagan Wilbanks.”
When the time for the race came, I was ready. I had not become any stronger, no coach had improved my technique, I was the same person who qualified for the race in every respect but one — I was mentally prepared to win.
You see, all season long every one of these kids I was racing against had done better than me. I was truly the underdog in the competition. But what I did that made the difference is this: I committed to be better than I was in the previous race. To me, winning wasn’t about beating my opponents, success meant bettering myself.
No matter what journey you are taking — you want to lose weight, you want to build a business, you want to see the world — whatever it is, don’t make others your goal post. You do two negative things when you use others as your motivation for success: First off, you breed an attitude of envy toward that individual. Secondly, you limit your horizons. Instead of comparing yourself to the people around you…
Become a better you every single day.
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