Latest / The Vincere Project / Episode 4 - Competition Declared
Transcript
- Vincent: All right, the Vincere project is back. This is our third or fourth week, I think our fourth week, right? We're doing like an introduction, kind of a soft takeoff building momentum. We're tinkering with stuff over and over again, the lights are different again. Because just like anything else, it's a good idea when you start out and I was like, hey, you know, Jamie was like, it would be helpful if we had the podcast this way or that way. Wonderful outline plan. So I've been sound good. And I'm like, Yeah, sounds great. Like a be in touch and work through it. Here's my phone, because I'm not ready today and all that other stuff. And she goes, yeah, by the way, I'm going on vacation for like six weeks and you might not be to get a hold of me. So it's all good, Aunt Jamie We're still going to keep going. ⁓ hey, today I want to accelerate the conversation and just jump right into it ⁓ a competition, competition with self competition with others. What does that entail? And just a brief overview, some of my experiences with competition. Not singularly say I'm an expert in all things competition, but I say I've definitely had my fair share of experiences where there was zero sum outcomes. There's going to be a winner and a loser and the consequences be ⁓ rather severe or dependent on ⁓ your worldview or you take it. So I think there's four key ingredients when we think about some sort of competition. And, ⁓ you know, I them down nice and neat on my notes here. layout of all the definitions and stuff I want to cover. But I think I'm just going to go left to right here because it's kind of how my brain is wired to overall start and organize information. So the first part is we're identifying a competition, we're self selecting whether we want to be in that or not, whether it's invited or not is who are the players. ⁓ that can be said for for business, that could be said for sports, ⁓ that be said for other activities like pickleball, because it's not a real sport. and things of that nature, but who are the players, right? And I think we have to have an understanding ⁓ of part of it before we get into it. And you think about the battlefield, it's ⁓ is a combatant and who is not a combatant, right? Because it's not just, there's no rule of law. Like you don't just go out there and start shooting people and things like that. That has happened ⁓ in global war on terror. I'm aware of that happening. I can assure you that the people that did that, they went to prison. And so while the media will blow those things up and suggest that's the greater body of work, would say 99.9 % of the times from every level of the military in those spaces where you're competing for terrain and competitive edge, psychological advantages, informational advantages, and every little edge matters. And then of course, execution, because there is random chance, right? Ricochets do land and hit sometimes. People spray and pray and get lucky, right? A human that doesn't know how to read and write can easily cook up an IED and have a catastrophic outcome, right? So there's a lot of levels to that competition thing in my mind, but knowing who the players are, right? Like, hey, what is a player? So you look at sports specifically, you're look at the players, you look at the roster. It's kind of a known at that point in some ways, right? You could look at the roster and the names and I mean, the way sports has become a multi-billion dollar, if not. much assuming it'll be a trillion dollar industry at some point, if it's not already, you know, will have stat outlines and reviews and evals for people on the internet. and they'll see who's who and who does what. There's the highlight feed, there's elite prospects, things of that nature. Now that's nothing new, right? It used to be closed information, I think. You think the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, there was no way to disseminate it outside of your network. Scattering reports, evals, things of that nature. But when it comes to sports or business or life in general, knowing who the players are or that are a part of it is the most important part. And having an estimate or an assessment of what the capabilities or capacities are for those particular players involved in that thing. That's that information, that's that intelligence, that's that study and that's preparation. It's film if it's sports, it's reviewing notes and the textbooks if it's an academic or intellectual pursuit, or if it's a physical pursuit, much like an intersection of everything, which is combat and battle, it's a performance of all those things. The second part is equally important is actions. What actions are acceptable and allowed and which ones are not? I alluded to that before is like, can't just go into a village in Afghanistan and just start shooting people. That's not how we do business. And as Americans, I would say we don't do business that way. What I would say is the actions, what our actions are allowed or permitted, right? And you want to think about multiple layers and levels of that. Just because something is permitted doesn't mean that we're necessarily capable of it or it's in our capacity. but it doesn't mean we don't have a strategic or tactical advantage or disadvantage somewhere else, right? And that advantage thing is we're going to exploit those options and opportunities in the storyline or narrative that's going to be the game that's been agreed upon as far as what we're doing, where we're doing, how we're doing it. The third part is I would say that the motives of each individual as part of it are gonna matter a lot. And I think with individual sports and individual competition, that's one version of variation where that deep sense of satisfaction, achievement, recognition and accomplishment matter quite a bit for the individual. For the team sport, all those things matter just the same, but there is a degree of social connection and camaraderie that matter more so when it's a team event, right? Because when it's a one-on-one thing, the assumption is that all things are fair and equal as far as the tools, tactics and rules. And I would agree with that. But I think there's in some sports, when we look at the motives, there can be a competitive advantage when you think about groups of people. because much of the stuff that I teach and I work on, help people, we take a look at belief, right? And those core beliefs sometimes can inform a group and be contagious. I mean, if you look at through America from East to West, North to South, high school sports play that role in many communities if you look at sports. Also, what institutions are known for academics, as far as the type of person that they produce or create or that's affiliated with the institution. And then of course, Businesses work just the same. They're all competing for market share, but really what we look at is that old marketing questions. How do you hold somebody's attention and what is the value in that? You could have the greatest lead list of the reasons and the features. What's the benefits or the profits? And then of course, if you don't have decisive actions integrated with the motives, it's gonna be really hard to do. The H-Hour... tagline the moment when was something that I have thought about for nearly a decade, right? That was like 2014, 15 when I started my academic journey or in 2026, right? It was like the moment when, and if you do that and repeat that over and over and over again, then it doesn't become so much about a scoreboard. It becomes this internal process where you're just competing against yourself forever. And if you're always, always attempting to win, you become more kind in your story of self and become more peaceful. You can more graceful, more open to the possibility. ⁓ and less tolerant of BS excuses. I have found that that in my self journey and process of attempting to bring a life, bring a brand to life or to offer an idea or thing to people has ⁓ deep seated in my imagination every step of the way. It's also in that fine print when you're building an idea and bring it to the market, you have to realize you're gonna work for a long time ⁓ no reward, right? This is the uniqueness and the distinctness of working in human services. And I think you on, you keep looking at and you lay out the field. If you look at HR, who it's competing with in counseling or continuing education or professional development, the runway has been built. So it's incredibly long, right? There is a vision that goes well beyond the next three to five years. And that to help people become more skilled and more competent when dealing with. most difficult circumstances, to be more brave in that story. ⁓ such, who are the players? What are the actions? What are the motives for all the people involved? It comes from all those experiences I was kind of alluding to from whether it's in the battlefield overseas and working with a whole host of different characters from maneuver elements to different commanders and leadership in the battlefield to local nationals and in between and governance ⁓ and of that nature. you know, and then flipping it over on the other side now with H hours, those three parts all really important. The one word I haven't declared or stated though, that's the part we can get stuck on or tripped up on is rules. And that's a painstaking process is because, you know, a lot of people try to look where there is no rules or assume that there are no rules. I would say my experience, whether it's been in warfare, sports, in high school or college or growing up. It's always been to know the rules. the same thing applies for H-Hour and I think sometimes we get into that space where it's complicated and then it escalates to complex and or chaotic, but we didn't anticipate it getting there. And we didn't know that we can ask experts or reach out to people to start to organize the information. What happens though is people don't want to be responsible for making their decisions. And I think this is the part in summary for competition. What I would want anybody to know that's working with me is I'm always in competition with myself, right? Physically down through financially and in those really beautiful parts of like becoming a better spouse, becoming a better father, becoming a better son, being a better sibling, a friend, a neighbor, all those things that are important to me, right? I think I take all of those really, really serious at this phase of my life. But I would add to that is this is don't be caught up in the perception of the critics and the people have an opinion about what you're doing or not doing. I would say that those are usually the fanboys and fangirls that don't have much to show for in their particular story. So if you're worried about what somebody says either in your family group or friend group about what you're pursuing or doing, probably haven't done ⁓ difficult things or things of significance in my estimation. ⁓ people that are in the arena, whether it's an individual ⁓ effort or a collaborative effort, they declare that they're in competition. I've yet in my lifetime at any point in time ⁓ found that somebody can beat me that doesn't declare they're in competition with me. Right? Like think that in sports as a kid, the minute it was declared, that's the team and then where the team is like, I'm trying to win against this team here. That is a hundred percent of the thing. And then you need great teammates and mentors, role models and coaches. It's the same thing with advisement and counsel and collaboration in the business space. You know, I work closely with Brooke all the time and we chat a couple of times a week. We meet once or twice a week to keep harnessing this thing and cultivating the vision and building out that runway, however long we can make it. And all the obstacles and adversities we face are all guided by legal and ethical implications. Right. And those would be the rules. So whether it's sports, it's in business or doing good counseling or a podcast for that matter. There are certain things that I can't necessarily say on here that wouldn't be there just they wouldn't be in my best interest. They wouldn't serve my licensure very well. So I won't say them or get into them. But anywhere we go, I think we declare those four things who are the players, right? And players will self identify I am a player, I am not a player. And it's not always the loudest person in the room, but the most quiet in the room, but identifying the players and whatever you're trying to do is is paranoid. You'd be surprised how much of that information is open source via the Google, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or just websites in general. ⁓ then the most valuable kind is going to be the word of mouth where you need access to particular parts of information to who the players are in a certain situation. ⁓ part is what are the actions that are acceptable or unacceptable? And that ⁓ vary ⁓ That can vary very, very widely. Expectations matter among cultures because not every game is played the same among the same groups of people or individuals. And people do play dirty, right? ⁓ What are the motives for people to be there? And then that last part is what are the rules? And there's generally going to be a rule book that applies to the particular thing. There are people much smarter or brighter than you and I that have done a significant amount of things that are world class by any metric that they have laid out the roadmap in video books, videos, courses for that matter. But I would tell you this, the books thing is probably the easiest way to get accelerated. If you're like, I don't want to ask a coach or a consultant or therapist for help. I would tell you just to read a thousand pages on a particular topic. You're bound to get three to five things that get restated over and over again from different perspectives or different authors. Those things start to attribute to knowledge and then it's up to you to apply them. expectation with reading is that if I don't get three to five things in a thousand pages, I'm probably wasting my time. It's also how I taught myself investing and how to manage money, right? It's not something I grew up in. Nobody taught me along the way, but ⁓ I've made it a lifestyle thing where it's a podcast, it's a lot of books and then test and there's been some L's in that story, but there's also been some wins, right? And so when you're starting at nothing, it's got to get you going in the direction of something. And a lot of times it's going to be learning and that's the most painful part. So man, competition, competition, flyers play tonight. They got a win to get into the playoffs. I think my kids can play hockey. It's going to be awesome. Very certain little cheer with them, right? Here's the stick, right? Right here. And it goes like this, parry left, parry right. Go, go, go. Right? And that's what I'm gonna be teaching him. ⁓ he knows the rules when he's out there competing, playing sports in your neighborhood, hopefully with his friends, against other friends and all that stuff. All right, competition, declare you're there or not. Cheers.