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Growth Spurt: What It Really Means to Be Competitive · The Growth Project

• 0:02
  You.
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  Okay, doctor Drew Brannon here with amylose,
• 0:06
  here to talk about this week's a growth spurt. So we just recently wrapped up the Olympics.
• 0:12
  In the last couple weeks. And I don't know if you,
• 0:14
  watch as much as I did, but it was a lot of fun. It became, a fun thing to kind of do as a family tour on the Olympics.
• 0:20
  And whether it was,
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  downhill skiing or curling or hockey. We kind of watched them all, and, I kind of laughed. I guess it'll be a few years before I reconnect with curling.
• 0:30
  But it was a fun one to watch, you know, and so it was interesting in watching the Olympics when, when the commentators and the people are referencing a lot of the athletes that are competing.
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  One of the common things you hear is will describe these people as what a competitor she is, or what a competitor he is, or the the fact that they're,
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  this is a place for competitors. And so it really got me thinking a lot about that word. And of course, you know, I consider myself a competitor. I've worked in competitive context my entire life.
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  Was an athlete forever, ever and ever. So I love the opportunity to compete.
• 1:03
  And as I thought about that more and more. One of the things that kind of popped up in my head was, you hear that language a lot, right? And so it tends to go something like this is a person will describe themselves and say, I'm a really competitive person.
• 1:18
  And then you might ask them and say, well, okay, what do you mean by that? And then it normally kind of goes in this route or this direction of they'll say, whatever I'm doing, I just want to win. Right. It doesn't matter if it's this or it's that or if it's seemingly significant or seemingly insignificant. I just want to win.
• 1:36
  And sometimes that is true. I think what I have seen too many times, unfortunately, in the past, is when a person says, I'm a really competitive person. What that looks like in real life is I like things to go my way, and if they don't go my way, I tend to get really upset about it.
• 1:58
  so the statement of I'm competitive is too often kind of a code for.
• 2:03
  That's why I get too emotional. That's why I get frustrated. And what I think is important to mention here is that isn't what a competitor is at all. So competitors are not people who get angry when things don't go their way. They aren't people who, expect it to go a certain way simply because they put forth some type of effort, or they showed up for the event or whatever it might be.
• 2:28
  I've worked with competitors at the highest levels, whether that's college football, professional sports, the Ryder Cup. And I can tell you that a true competitor is a person who goes about their business in the right way, regardless of their industry. What do I mean by that? Well, they have an honest and accurate understanding of the arena in which they compete.
• 2:53
  They have appropriate respect for the people they are competing against. They have the maturity mentally and emotionally, to when it maybe doesn't go their way to give a nod and have healthy respect for the competitor that day who maybe got the better of them or had the upper hand. They recognize greatness in other people. They don't engage in unnecessary or frivolous comparison games where it becomes just a criticism of someone else.
• 3:22
  so true competitors like the one I'm mentioning. These are people that put the honest work into what's needed in order to be successful. This lack of emotional control,
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  I find, is something that people sometimes talk about when trying to describe themselves or think about themselves as a competitor, when in reality these are not the characteristics.
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  Those are not the indicators of what a true competitor looks like.
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  One other thing to mention when we think about what is a true competitor is this isn't a one size thing fits all at all. What do I mean by that? I have seen people that I would consider to be the greatest of competitors who are extroverted, who are, bigger personalities. They're very talkative. They're very relational.
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  They tend to be more outgoing in their relations with people.
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  But at the heart of what really drives them is they're their competitors. And I've seen competitors who are the opposite of all those things very introverted, very to themselves, calculated, thoughtful, quiet. And they have a heart of a champion and are very competitive also. So I think we always want to be real careful that we don't paint in strokes that are far too broad.
• 4:39
  As we think about, what does it mean to be a competitor?
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  it's much more a matter of can you, with consistency, do the honest work, handle yourself with class and dignity and and aim high? Right. I think that there's that internal drive that burning desire, that feel for wanting to achieve success and yet having the ability, if it doesn't go your way to handle it properly, to handle it correctly, because there is, without a doubt, a right versus a wrong way to handle the disappointment of defeat.
• 5:14
  So as we as we talk about some of those concepts, would really challenge you to, ask yourself the question of where am I in the midst of all of these dynamics, these concepts, these variables, and try to make some adjustments if needed? But I think the the win win for you and the people around you, the organization you work with, whatever it might be, is the more closely you can align to the behaviors and the, tendencies of a true competitor, the better that tends to be for you, and the better that tends to be for the people that are around you.