I was talking to Jeff Janssen the other day about "competing." It seems that with each passing class, there seems to be a little bigger gap in individuals and teams competing at their highest level. Jeff is actually working on a tremendous project to help coaches and athletes compete. But until, here are some thoughts from Pete Carroll and his recent book, "Win Forever."ALWAYS COMPETE
Lots of people talk about competition, especially those who seek to achieve high performance no matter what the profession. In my experience, however, the real essence of competing is often misunderstood. Competition to me is not about beating your opponent. It is about doing your best; it is about striving to reach your potential; and it is about being in relentless pursuit of a competitive edge in everything you do.
As I worked through that process of developing my vision and plan for success, I decided that competition had to be at the heart of everything we would do – absolutely everything. Our stated goal would be to “do things better than they had ever been done before.” When you think about it, that Is a statement about competition in its purest form. However successful you may be, there is always some element you can improve upon, some achievement to exceed.
Once I understood that we were competing with ourselves, it changed my view of future opponents. Many people confuse “opponent” with “enemy,” but in my experience, that is extremely unproductive. My opponents are not my enemies. My opponents are the people who offer me the opportunity to succeed. The tougher my opponents, the more they present me with an opportunity to live up to my full potential and play my best.
From my very first days on the staff, it was obvious to me that Jerry (Rice) felt he had to prove to himself and his teammates that he was great. And this was not just on game day; it was during walk-throughs, training camp, off-season workouts, and even charity events. The beauty of it was that his mentality became a part of the 49er culture, and Ronnie Lott, Steve young, and others followed suit. Still, Jerry was different from anyone else.
As a great competitor, Jerry understood that by staying in the mind-set of always competing he could develop the awareness to capture the “opportunities within opportunities: that other people might miss. In other words, he was constantly seeking a competitive edge. It helps to always be searching for that tiny edge in whatever you’re doing – even if it’s small, silly stuff – because that’s how you are going to catch things that someone else might not when it really matters. It’s an extremely powerful tool.
Just as important as that competitive intensity was the fact that you could see without a doubt that Jerry was really competing with himself. He never allowed his success or failure to be defined by anyone else. Jerry Rice’s ability to maintain his competitive focus made him into one of the great figures in the history of sports. I think his example is an unusually valuable one.
As I worked through that process of developing my vision and plan for success, I decided that competition had to be at the heart of everything we would do – absolutely everything. Our stated goal would be to “do things better than they had ever been done before.” When you think about it, that Is a statement about competition in its purest form. However successful you may be, there is always some element you can improve upon, some achievement to exceed.
Once I understood that we were competing with ourselves, it changed my view of future opponents. Many people confuse “opponent” with “enemy,” but in my experience, that is extremely unproductive. My opponents are not my enemies. My opponents are the people who offer me the opportunity to succeed. The tougher my opponents, the more they present me with an opportunity to live up to my full potential and play my best.
From my very first days on the staff, it was obvious to me that Jerry (Rice) felt he had to prove to himself and his teammates that he was great. And this was not just on game day; it was during walk-throughs, training camp, off-season workouts, and even charity events. The beauty of it was that his mentality became a part of the 49er culture, and Ronnie Lott, Steve young, and others followed suit. Still, Jerry was different from anyone else.
As a great competitor, Jerry understood that by staying in the mind-set of always competing he could develop the awareness to capture the “opportunities within opportunities: that other people might miss. In other words, he was constantly seeking a competitive edge. It helps to always be searching for that tiny edge in whatever you’re doing – even if it’s small, silly stuff – because that’s how you are going to catch things that someone else might not when it really matters. It’s an extremely powerful tool.
Just as important as that competitive intensity was the fact that you could see without a doubt that Jerry was really competing with himself. He never allowed his success or failure to be defined by anyone else. Jerry Rice’s ability to maintain his competitive focus made him into one of the great figures in the history of sports. I think his example is an unusually valuable one.
