The Way of the Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace

by Erwin Raphael McManus

without competition, we lack the necessary context to push ourselves beyond our own capacities. Competition, when understood properly, makes you better, makes you more, makes you stronger. My response to Shane was that it is not wrong to be competitive, an answer he wasn’t expecting to hear. He said, “So is it okay for me to look around the room and compare myself to others?” I responded to him, “I thought you wanted to be the best?” A little bit insulted, he responded immediately, “I do want to be the best.” I said, “Well, when you are the best, there is no one to compare yourself to. So rather than comparing yourself to others, why don’t you compete against you, who you are today. That way when you are the best, you’re still competing against the same person: who you were yesterday.”