“When there is no internal conflict there is no external competition.” – Roger Anthony

Those words helped me change my approach and my results. 

It has allowed me to embrace the learning when I see someone performing better than I am:  𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈?

Last year, I was out cross-country skiing on one of my favorite runs called Heckman. It’s an expert run, and it has a very long, grinding climb.

On that day, I was heading up Heckman and way in the distance behind me I saw a couple of skiers.  As I continued to ski, I noticed that they were rapidly gaining on me – even though I was skiing as hard as I knew how to ski.

I was drenched in sweat, and I knew that it was only a matter of minutes before they passed me, so I thought:

“Well, I can’t out ski them so I might as well learn from them!”

I stopped and stood to the side, and I studied their technique, which was far more advanced than mine. 

They were exerting FAR less energy than I was AND they were WAY faster!

That moment forever changed the way that I skied, and I have been working on that technique ever since.  It has transformed me as a skier. 

I hate to admit this, but I know in my younger days (when I was ultra-competitive about everything!), I would have found a way to dismiss why they were faster. 

But I would have missed the learning.

Now, I just want to continue to get better.

It’s like Nelson Mandela said: “I never lose.  I either win or learn.” If you want to hear more on this, check out this short episode.