Competing Against Yourself

Adapted and shortened from my basketball blog. 

David Hemery sets a World Record in the 1968 Mexico Olympics finals. 

Hemery discusses competitiveness in Sporting Excellence. He shares numerous examples: 

• "From my point of view, the enjoyment was managing to achieve the new record breaking performance; the number was almost irrelevant." - Hemery 
• Runner Steve Cram said, "I'm awful. I time myself driving to training every day." 
• Arnold Palmer said that he was out playing with a club from the age of three. I can recall breaking 50 (for nine holes) for the first time and breaking 40 for the first time." 
• Olympic hurdler Ed Moses "would challenge himself to see how many books he could read over the summer holidays."

How about us? What drives excellence? How many 'push the envelope', challenging ourselves to exceed personal bests in everyday activities. 

• In "Around the World" (10 shots out and 10 in, the goal is always to have zero misses). The same applies for "Around the Key." I've done both dozens of times. 

• Some challenge themselves to risk management. At a golf tournament, Warren Buffett was asked about a $10 entry fee for a chance to win $10,000 for a hole-in-one. He declined. "If I'm not disciplined in the small things, how can I be disciplined with big ones?"
• Bill Russell threw up before every game from nerves.  
• Larry Bird took 500 free throws before school. 
• Kobe Bryant took 1,000 shots a day during the summer "off-season." 
• And Isiah Thomas played for eight hours a day on hardscrabble playgrounds. 

Some might call our habits 'relentless' or 'obsession' or even misguided. Perfection is impossible but we can seek the "asymptote of excellence." 

Lagniappe. "It's about having the courage to fail...winning has a price." 

It distills to this, what are you prepared to do to bring the best version of yourself to home, to the classroom, to the volleyball court?  

Lagniappe. What's in your workout? 

• Are you willing to pay the price to be a "top 10 percenter?" 
• Are you going to drag a teammate into the top 10 percent with you? 
• It's not how much you want excellence. It's how much you are willing to sacrifice for excellence.