A Game Against Yourself

At the end of the day, you are your only opponent.

Internally, you are in a constant state of war. There are three sides within this battle: who you are, who you aren’t, and who you could be. You get to decide who wins.

You are never in competition externally. The coworker you feel threatened by, the business poaching your clients, the guy at the gym picking up heavier dumbbells, and each other person you feel at war with are not your competition. They are irrelevant. Beating them will not give you true satisfaction; it just feeds the flame of external warfare.

The real battleground is inside. Whether you like it or not, it wages on.

Winning looks different for everyone, but they all follow the same theme of becoming who you could be. That could be someone who can run 20 miles every day, run a successful company, be a great mom who raises amazing children, or any number of things. They all involve being in control of yourself, being focused, and pushing for more.

People tend to be too static. They tend to linger where they are. On the mountain of attainment, they build houses rather than pushing forward.

Not to be cliché, but it is a good idea to strive to be a better version of yourself than you are now, not because you aren’t good now, but because you can be better.