Be A Competitor

I'm often asked what is the biggest take away I have from being an assistant at the University of Tennessee and working with Coach Summitt.  Though I learned so many things the greatest take away is--competing at your highest level.  It's no wonder that "Be A Competitor" is a part of the Definite Dozen.  But being a competitor isn't about beating someone else.  It's competing at your highest level, whatever that might be.  Below are a few of the thoughts I want to bring to our culture here at Lipscomb:

1. What do you see in great competitors? Best at everything they do.  They don't take possessions off.  They push through being tired.
2. Compete in everything you do.
3. Are you underachieving or overachieving?  It's never too late.
4. Influence your opponent:  By being competitive, you can affect how your adversary performs.
5. Competition isn't social.  It separates achievers from the average.
6. You can't always be the most talented person in the room, but you can be the most competitive.
7. Competitors do not simply do things just to finish.
8. Competition should inspire you in all that you do.
9. You let others down when you take a day or a possession off.
10. Competition allow you to set yourself apart.
11. Only by learning to compete can you discover just how much you are capable of achieving.  You have more within you than you realize.
12. Too many people elect to be average, out of timidity.  As I look around, I see scores of underachievers.  The world if full of them.  The reason so many people underachieve, instead of overachieve, is simply because they are afraid to make a mistake or to fail or to be wrong.  They're afraid to find out what's inside of them.
13. Competitiveness is the opposite of complacency.  It's disquieting and uncomfortable.  It requires commitment and risk and soul searching.  When you choose to compete, you take a huge gamble.  You might just lose.  You might just have to admit, "That's the best I can do."
14. It's my experience that people rise to the level of their own expectations and of the competition they seek out.
15. Refuse to limit yourself.
16. It's not a matter of talent, it's a matter of effort.