Always Compete | MJ Mondays

One thing that people mention when they talk about Michael Jordan was his work ethic. He didn't take a lot of days off, and when he was in the gym (or the golf course, in a card game, ping pong table, etc.) he was competing to be the best he could be. 

In the Last Dance documentary, studio analyst and reporter Ahmad Rashad said, "Michael played every game as if it was his last. Every single game. It was never a day off. He knew that it was going to be somebody in the crowd who never saw him play before. That is what kept him going."

Staying in the competitive mindset and always competing is a skill that can be a real difference-maker.

Today, Ja Morant is an NBA star and viral sensation, but Ja was once an unknown and un-recruited high school basketball player trying to earn a college scholarship. Murray State assistant coach James Kane peaked his head into an aux gym at a small AAU combine where Ja Morant was playing three-on-three when Ja was in high school. Many high school kids might think that they are too good to play three-on-three in an aux gym at an AAU combine, But Ja was in there playing hard, competing, and showing the athleticism, creativity, playmaking skills, and edge that we all see from him now (Forde). That moment led to him getting a scholarship offer from Murray State, and now he is one of the most exciting young players in the NBA. You never know who is watching. Playing every game like it's your last can create opportunities that you don't even know exist.

In his book, "Win Forever," Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said that Jerry Rice was the greatest individual competitor that he ever came into close contact with. He said that Jerry would give everything that he had to beat you, and that he competed at everything he did. Coach Caroll said that Jerry understood that by staying in the mindset of always competing, he could develop the awareness to capture the  'opportunities within opportunities' that other people might miss.  Jerry was constantly seeking a competitive edge.  It helps stay in the mindset of searching for tiny edges in whatever you're doing because that's how you are going to catch things that someone else might not when it really matters.  It's an extremely powerful tool.

Today's athletes play so many more games before they get to college than Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice did. It is easy to minimize certain games. It is easy to take plays off in certain games and certain tournaments because they aren't the big games or showcase tournaments that everybody looks forward to or that hundreds of scouts are going to be at. But competing is a mindset, and staying in that competitive mindset is an important habit and skill. Greats like Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice were able to separate themselves because they always competed in everything that they do. Guys like Ja Morant were able to capitalize in moments by staying in the competitive mindset when other athletes might have taken it easy.

Learn how to compete in everything that you do. Learn how to compete with yourself. Compete with yourself to be better today than you were yesterday, and compete with yourself so that you can be better tomorrow than you are today. 

Maintaining a competitive focus will help you become the best that you can be.

References

Carroll, Pete.  (2011).  Win Forever.  New York: The Penguin Group.

Forde, Pat. (2019, January 29). How a Hungry Coach Led to the Discovery of Viral College Sensation Ja Morant. Yahoo!. www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hungry-coach-led-discovery-viral-college-sensation-ja-morant-020738543.html.

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist. Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01