If you know my story, you know that, as a former athlete, I am competitive. I have always been competitive with others, but also with myself. I love working harder and being better than I was yesterday and making sure I was pushing my body, too. That drive that comes from this competitive nature is awesome. But it is good until it’s not. I heard a concept from Simon Sinek’s book “The Infinite Game.” It is the idea of competition versus inspiration. How are the people that we have in our lives or the content we consume either encouraging us to compete with someone or does that person inspire us to be better. Joy doesn’t come on the other side of a goal or on the other side of winning. It comes from the pursuit from something meaningful. Just by the act of growing in this pursuit brings you joy/makes you better, not just the end game
In Simon Sinek’s book “The Infinite Game,” the “game”d is a framework. In business (and in life!), it is not like a sport, where, in the end one team wins and one team loses. The infinite game is this idea that there is not an end. You are winning by just being able to stay in the game. Sustainability means winning. Not beating someone else in sales or commissions. I share an example with our Real Estate team. We always set goals for the year. Our agents and team had been pushing themselves all year. In the beginning of January, or what feels like approximately one second later, it all starts over again. It is easy in real estate to have a competitive mind. You can’t keep score if you are playing a different game. Some other real estate agents maybe have a large family, maybe don’t have kids, maybe their parents were in the business, maybe they have a team, maybe they don’t. Whatever the case may be, this idea of winning based on your income/sales at the end of the year does not sit well with me and it is not the way I encourage our teams focus. Sometimes that is hard because drive DOES help grow a business. But the challenge? It must be sustainable. That is the only question right now that matters.
How can this relate to your world? Are the people in your world that are creating this drive in your soul; are they generating it through a competitive nature or an inspirational nature? Are your friends creating this drive in the right way? To me the right way is inspiration versus competition. Here are a few ways we can lean in the direction of inspiration versus competitiveness.
[7:54] Ask yourself how you are setting goals. Are you setting your goals based off other people? They key is setting meaningful goals; goals that matter to YOU and goals that are not in someone else’s hands.
[10:45] Start to identify what you are consuming. Make sure you are consuming the right things! Have you ever had that sinking feeling in your stomach, but you forgot where it came from? Pay attention to these triggers that revolve around your self-worth, your business, etc. I share an example about my pregnancy. If you are scrolling through your feed and comparing yourself to someone else’s life – and then you feel competitive instead of inspired – that’s a problem! In the same way you scroll through your social media feed and edit a bit, I want you to scroll through your life. How can you then determine who are the type of people and what is the type of content that can move you in the right direction. This will allow you to lay a strong foundation for yourself. Your heart will start to change, and your competitive edge will dull.
I don’t want you to stay away from competition, but I want you to, instead, move toward inspiration. When I am able to be inspired by following someone, I am also inspired to LEARN FROM them. That is the key. I want you to be fueled and find things that inspire you.
When you are pursuing you, if is important to find the people and content that inspire you. In order to find things that inspire you, do some reflection on YOU. What matters? What doesn’t? Set yourself up for the right kind of inspiration. Be better for yourself and for no outside recognition you are going to win at the infinite game because you can stay in it! You are going to have earned that opportunity for YOU to choose and not have that choice made for you. Go through your life feed. Be sure the people in your world and the content you are consuming inspires you to pursue you not in a competitive way but in an inspirational way.
Subscribe to the Podcast
I am grateful you were here for today’s episode! To make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast. Click here to subscribe on iTunes.
In order to help others find this podcast and help inspire them, I would love for you to leave a review of the podcast. Share something that motivated you, or something that helped you reframe the way you approach your life and goals. I’d love to hear how you’re pursuing your best self. Click here to review the show on iTunes. You can go to “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”. Your comments are greatly appreciated!
More Episodes You’d Be Interested In
Episode 62: Wealth Building Mistakes