Competitive mindset, you either have it or you don’t.

Have you ever said to yourself?

“I’m not going to enter because I won’t be competitive.”

If you have, then ask yourself this, competitive against whom?

Below is a dictionary definition of the word.

adjective: competitive

As good as or better than others of a comparable nature

This is just one definition, but in the context of this post, it’s the only one that counts.

Sport by its very nature pits you against others, depending on your experience, training and strengths, you will be comparable to those of whom share a similar level. As demonstrated in the bell curve below.

It stands to reason then, that in any given competition, there will be a number of your competitors who might be of a higher level, a number of whom are similar to you and a number of whom are of a lower level, this is true for every sport, from grass roots all the way to the Olympics and just like the best in the World, you won’t win all the time, and to start with you might not win at all, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t competitive, it just means that right now, you aren’t competitive with the top few who are winning.

Also, an important note is that you’re competing against yourself, as cliche as that sounds, you know what you can do in the gym when eveything is controlled by you, warm ups, rest periods and the equipment, but in competition, you have pressure and an intensity that you might not have experienced before, so you’re not just against everyone else, you’re against the person you used to be and looking to set new pbs’ in terms of max weight lifted, reps completed etc.

The level of competition changes your level of competitiveness.

I’ve had experience of local, National, European and World championship competition in Strongman, and my level of competitiveness changes with the level of competition, as you can see below, based on my results over the past few years, at local level, I would put myself in the top performer category, at national level, I’m just outside of that top level (for now), and at World’s, I’m pretty much in the middle ground of the average performers.

Were I to only enter competitions where I felt I had to be competing for the top spot, I’d never have experienced international competition or what is required to get there and I’d forever be mediocre, but since I have the mindset where I always want to test myself, I have developed into a far better athlete than I would have if I’d decided that I needed to wait until I could compete with the best.

This is what sets the competitor apart from everyone else,

They pay their dues in lower level competitions,

They don’t moan about not being competitive,

They put themselves in deep waters to test themselves,

They turn up, even though they might not win and give everything they’ve got,

They focus on what they can do, not on what others are capable of,

They take their losses on the chin, without apology.

They adjust their training to improve weaknesses and come back stronger,

They don’t care or cry about “Trophy Hunters”,

They never make excuses,

But most of all, They NEVER let their fear of losing stop them from competing.

Now, if you find yourself doing the opposite of the above list, sorry to break it to you, but you don’t have a competitive mindset and probably never will.

But if you are willing to aim high, even if you don’t reach those goals, you will always end up in a better place than if you aim low and succeed.

If you are interested in learning more about mindset or want to become more competitive, get in touch through my services page

Dan