You are your own competition

YOU ARE YOUR OWN COMPETITION

 

Probably the most commonly thrown word nowadays is “Haters”. I do it for the “haters”. Cheers to my “haters”. If you do it for your “haters”, what do you do for yourself? It’s time we did a re-evaluation and got certain things clear. Look around you right now. Do you see another you? Absolutely not, unless of course you see your reflection.  You are you only own competition. I’ll put across to you a few points.

1.       No one else is exactly like you: No matter who you are, what you believe or where you are from, there is no one else exactly like you! They may look like you, sound like you, but they’ll never ever be exactly like you. You are unique

2.       Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Let us underline YOU. It does not say for “them”, “us” or “all of you”. YOU, there is singular. In the limited time that YOU are on this planet, YOU have a purpose, a unique assignment. YOU are crafted in such a way that YOU are equipped for YOUR purpose. YOU are made to outlast all the trials and tribulations that are along your way.

3.       No one has walked the same path: Before Christ was sent down to earth, there was no one who had walked the path that he’d walk. No one has walked the path that you will walk! Yes, the paths may have some similarities but they can never ever be identical.

4.       How high do you aim? A few years ago I was the captain of a chess team. I’d play and beat everyone around me. I felt invincible. At that point I found comfort in my unbeatable status and became stagnant. I had nothing to chase, because I was ahead of everyone I could see. This only got tried and found wanting when we went for chess tournaments, where I met people who could beat me. The lesson in this is that you can only run faster if there is something ahead that you are chasing. Do not chase your “haters”, chase a BETTER YOU. By chasing a better YOU, you’ll always run faster, because no matter how good you become there is always going to be room to be better! I remember watching Usain Bolt break the 200m record. Right at the end of that race, I saw him begin to relax and glide across the line. I couldn’t help but imagine what would have happened had someone been hot on his heels. Perhaps he would have further sliced the record time. What have you failed to reach or what in Bolt’s case how much further could you have reached had you had your eyes focused on your real competition “A BETTER YOU”. Bolt is a legend though, no one can take that away from him!

5.       Be better than YOU:  Your aim should not be to be better than such and such an individual, be better than YOU! Your aim should be to be the best you possible! You are great today? Your aim should be to be greater tomorrow. When you are greater, you aim should shift forward to being “GREATER than greater”. Never stop learning. Never stop developing! Whether you know it yet or not, there is a greater individual inside of you. Greater than what you expect!

 

To summarise: Forget everyone else in this race of life! Focus on you. And I don’t mean that in a selfish way at all. Go ahead always love others and care for others, it is important. However don’t ever let your altitude be limited by those who you think are running the same race you are! Your race is unique! You route is unique! Your path is unique! The results will also be unique!