Eat Their Lunch

Use This Strategy to Dominate in Business, Sports and Life

“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.” — Ovid

Victor Hugo has been quoted as saying… “One can resist the invasion of an army, but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.”

Buckle up and prepare yourself for an invasion of ideas and insights along with a massive call to action because… you’re about to learn a strategy for taking on and dominating your toughest competitors while making them irrelevant in the process.

Competition is a universal language applied in a myriad of ways.

We compete for prizes … for promotions … for parking spaces.

We compete to see who’s fastest … who’s strongest … who can eat the most hot dogs in 10 minutes.

While the range and significance of each competition is diverse, one constant remains: competition is everywhere.

Still, many of us are ambivalent about competition.

Like it or not, life is often a zero-sum game: Your win is someone else’s loss.

Growth and survival for that matter often requires taking market share from your competitors, while they try to do the same to you. How else can you grow 12 percent a year in an industry that’s only growing by 3 percent?

We may praise the competitiveness of some (say, certain popular athletes), disparage the competitiveness of others (say, certain obnoxious colleagues) and deny that we ourselves are competitive at all (in order to suggest what nice people we are).

But the truth is…we all compete to some extent.

“I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.” — Walt Disney

For centuries, philosophers have debated whether competition brings out our best or our worst. The answer is of course, both.

However…in the spirit of looking at the glass being half full rather than half empty…we’ll focus our time on the bright side…the positive benefits of competition.

THE PURPOSE OF COMPETITION

If the purpose of competition is indeed to bring about your personal best…then who or what offers you the ideal competitive criteria for stepping up your game, raising your standards and improving your overall performance?

I’m going to do the heavy lifting on this one and answer that question in a way that I hope will change the way you look at competition forever.

NO COMPETITION. NO PROGRESS.

In business and in life we often hear people ask…who is your perfect or ideal customer?

Or even what are the attributes of the perfect or ideal spouse or mate?

You cannot afford to overlook the importance of this intellectual exercise because the answers help you to examine existing client or personal relationships and expose what I like to call the perfection gap.

Once the perfection gap is brought out into the sunlight…you are now in a position to think clearly about what stays, what goes and what needs your time and attention.

Let’s now piggyback this idea and focus the conversation on you…your goals, your reputation and your results.

If the goal is peak performance, maximum achievement, self-mastery, or even to become the greatest of all time (GOAT)…one strategy is all you need to get the job done.

THE PERFECT COMPETITOR STRATEGY

The perfect competitor strategy is based on the theory that…world-class performances will only be achieved by rising to the mental demands and physical rigors that are brought about by world-class competition.

In other words…to be the best, you must compete against and beat the best.

So…who or what is the perfect competitor?

What are the attributes of the perfect competitor…the ones that drive you to dig deep and run faster?

Here’s your game plan for success…

1. The perfect competitor operates with the highest professional standards.

They do the right things, the right way and never succumb to lying, cheating or unsportsmanlike conduct.

As a result of these world-class behaviors…they have turned trust, loyalty and integrity into a competitive advantage that’s virtually impossible to beat.

If you have any intention of competing against them…your standards must be high, your “A Game” always on and your behavior must be impeccable.

2. The perfect competitor has a demonstrated track record of superior results which in turn provides them with superior levels of credibility.

Those elevated levels of credibility work to intimidate weaker competition who wind up choking, flinching and second guessing themselves …which in turn leads to unforced errors in execution.

Building superior reputational capital through the delivery of superior results is an unbeatable combination.

3. The perfect competitor is a well-prepared, highly competent and supremely confident professional who always plays to win.

“You can’t look at the competition and say you’re going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you’re going to do it differently.” ― Steve Jobs

When will your finest hour come, and how will it arrive?

Do you really think it will materialize without a serious competitive challenge, without your perseverance being tested, without you being pushed to your limits, tormented and put through your own personal hell?

In short, for you to unleash your greatness…you must seek out and rise to the great competitive challenges that are thrust upon you…or even better, the ones you thrust upon yourself.

While beating inferior competition may give you a temporary feeling of superiority, it’s a losing strategy.

Why? Because you sell out, you handicap your growth and relegate yourself to a life of mediocrity.

Once again, to be the best…you must compete against and beat the best.

There is no purer form of success, no more exact and demanding test of what you, your team and company are capable of, than to compete at the highest level and emerge victorious.

4. The perfect competitor takes great pride in what they do…they will not go down easily…so expect a fight…and bring everything you’ve got and then some.

The perfect competitor is mentally tough as over the years, they have trained themselves to develop an indomitable spirit…the type of spirit that is incapable of being overcome, subdued, or vanquished by lesser competition.

Psychologically, the perfect competitors role is to challenge you, to test your limits, to determine how badly you want it, to push you further than you ever have gone before…and ultimately to get you to raise your game to the highest level or perish.

5. The perfect competitors role is also to keep you on your toes and far outside your comfort zone. They exist to see how much suffering you can handle, to determine how much inconvenience you can tolerate…and how much heart, will and character you really have.

From the playing field to the boardroom….the exact same rule applies.

If you’re ever going to find your greatness…you must understand that to be the best, you must compete against and beat the best.

It’s by rising to meet the mental demands and physical rigors that ONLY the perfect competitor can offer… that you provide yourself with undeniable proof that you have what it takes to be one of the great ones.

In a very real sense, seeking out tough and demanding competitive challenges is the greatest thing you can do for yourself, as it’s the one sure way to unleash your greatness.

Look…there’s no point in pretending that deploying the perfect competitor strategy is anything less than the SAVVIEST MOVE YOU CAN MAKE.

And while there are plenty of excuses, there’s not one good reason for you to procrastinate, to say the timing is not right…or that it’s not worth your time.

In the end…any negative assumption you may have about competition or the perfect competitor strategy stands at odds with the most fundamental premise of success…To be the best…you must compete against and beat the best!

Gary Ryan Blair is creator of the 100 Day Challenge…a radical approach to goal achievement that shows people how to accelerate their results, achieve 10X size goals and transform every area of their life and career — FAST.