The Importance of Competition Reps

[00:00:11] Yo, what's good? This is Rich and you're listening to The Mental Wealth Show, a podcast about health, healing, and high performance. And on this episode, I'm going to be talking about the importance of competition reps and a recent lesson from a session with my therapist. And as always, my goal with each episode is to leave you with one takeaway that you can start applying in your life today.

[00:00:35] So let's dive right into something that's been top of mind lately. And it is also the Rich recommends for this week, and that is to get more competition reps. So the World Masters Track and Field Indoor Championships are next week. The thing that I've been talking about these past few months, that is finally here and I can't wait to compete. And one thing about this particular indoor track and field season, I made the intention or I was more intentional about competing more frequently.

[00:01:05] And in past seasons, I think I found myself worrying about getting injured. So I really want to be able to compete at this meet. So I don't want to do anything too close to it and then risk potentially getting injured and not being able to compete at that thing. But part of what I realized this year is that I need more competition reps. Because in practice, things will go well, I'll feel like I'm doing things crisp, I'll be able to think a bit more in my head during each approach, each longer triple jump approach, even when I'm going at full speed.

[00:01:34] But when I get to competition, I get on the runway, I know exactly what it is that I want to do. But after those first few strides, it's like my mind goes blank, or maybe my mind is still doing what it's doing, but my body takes over. And that's where I revert to old habits. And I find myself in the sand wondering, man, like I just worked on this.

[00:01:54] Why can't I do this thing that I could do two, three days ago, whatever, or this thing that I was just thinking about that I wanted to that I was focusing on to do literally seconds ago. And part of what I realized with that is that I need more competition reps. When you're in competition, it's a completely different environment, the lights are on, everyone is watching.

[00:02:17] I got the other competitors who were watching, if there's people in the stands, they're looking at what's going on, there are the officials who are near the sand who are measuring the jump, like there's a lot of stuff that's going on. And in some ways, it sort of feels like the fight or flight is activated. And of course, when that happens, that's when the body's going to revert to old habits, it's going to do what it's always done to keep itself safe, even if those aren't the most productive things.

[00:02:44] Now, that might sound extreme, but I'm thinking particularly about the hijack that happens where at the beginning of my approach, before I start running toward the takeoff board, I know exactly what I want to do. But once I start moving and I get into it and it becomes the high pressure situation, that's when my body takes over and I revert to the things that I've done for years, as opposed to the thing that I've been working on that I need to do right now.

[00:03:11] And of course, now being when I'm taking off down the runway to take a jump. And so in a practice environment, there's not all that pressure. It's just me and my coach or it's just me focusing on what I'm doing, even if there's kids on the nearby field. A lot of times when I'm with my coach, there's soccer games and other things that are happening. And that doesn't distract me again, because it's not the high performance environment.

[00:03:35] It's practice. But being on the long jump runway at competition is about as high performance as it gets. You really don't have that much time to think. So whatever it is that you're trying to do, that needs to already be programmed. And of course, that's the intent of practice. Right.

[00:03:51] But you also have to have practice in the high performance environments under the high performance and conditions to be able to get better and to program whatever it is you're trying to do in multiple situations or circumstances.

[00:04:07] And so to translate this from track and field into things that we do every day, probably if you're listening to this practice reps are things like reading books, listening to podcasts, listening to audio books, building websites and creating strategies behind the scenes, buying and figuring out different tools to use and how they work.

[00:04:31] Things like design and coming up with the avatar for the people that you're trying to reach. Maybe it's taking LinkedIn courses or going through the certification process for something. Those are all practice reps. Competition reps are things like launching publicly and navigating everything it takes to grow whatever it is that you're trying to grow. Competition reps are taking on more speaking gigs.

[00:05:02] Competition reps could also be leading more highly visible projects at work. And hopefully you see where I'm going with this. It's doing the actual thing in the actual environment where it counts and where you're probably feeling that excitement or pressure and not just doing that thing quietly behind the scenes because it's safe. And so my rich recommends for this week is to get more competition reps, whatever that means for you. If all you're doing is reading, start converting that reading to action.

[00:05:32] If you know that you're a capable speaker and you've proved it in smaller environments, then maybe the competition reps includes doing that in larger spaces or in front of larger groups of people. There's a lot of different ways that you can go with this. But again, the important part here is that you get more competition reps, the visible reps, the public reps, because that's where the growth is going to happen.

[00:05:57] And we know that it's probably going to be frustrating along the way, especially if you've built anything online and or just in general. You know, I've built a lot of websites and I've had a lot of other successful online projects in the past. And I know the process of what it takes to grow a thing. And usually when you launch a thing, it doesn't instantly grow. It takes a lot of time, effort, fumbling, stumbling, getting no response, learning how to adapt and deal with it. There's a lot that goes into that.

[00:06:24] But if we ultimately want to be successful and get to wherever it is we're thinking or dreaming about being, then we have to get more competition reps. We just can't keep practicing behind the scenes. And one other thing just came to mind here. A competition rep could be as simple as speaking more in broader team meetings. Maybe you're comfortable speaking in your individual team meetings or with folks one on one. So that could be the practice rep.

[00:06:48] But the competition rep is to start contributing in larger group meetings where you would normally stay quiet or maybe save that idea for an email or something that you're going to send later. You want to capture that moment, right? You want to you want to show up while the lights are on and while people are there. So that might be the competition rep for you. And so I hope you'll take some time to assess whether in those areas that are really important to you, where you really want to succeed, where you have dreams, goals, visions.

[00:07:19] Are you also getting the competition reps that you need to move forward? And if you're like me, I know you're getting a lot of practice reps. You're getting tons of those. And you're getting competition reps here and there. And maybe you're expecting things to get better or improve. And so you spend more time on the practice reps, but you also have to get more competition reps. So that is the rich recommends for this episode.

[00:07:44] And the other thing that I wanted to talk about today, this idea of radical acceptance, that I've talked about it on past podcast episodes in the context of my healing journey. And that was also related to a conversation that I had with my therapist, as is this insight that I'm sharing here today. So my birthday was on March 10th. Just passed, turned 42 years old. Didn't think this is what 42 would be. And I mean that in the most positive way possible.

[00:08:12] At 32, I did not think that this is what life would be a decade later. I did not think that this is how I would look. I did not think that this is how I would feel at 42 years old. So I was really happy with it. I was really happy with the day, really happy with where, and I say it, it's everything. Happy with where I am in life. Happy to be back in track. Happy to be married. Happy to have made peace with a lot of things that I was struggling with in the past.

[00:08:38] Happy to still be free from alcohol coming up on five years in July. So a lot, a lot, a lot of positivity. But I didn't share it. I didn't mention it at work. There was a calendar where people put their birthdays and mine wasn't in there. I'd also turned off the setting probably years ago so that people don't automatically know when my birthday is so they can celebrate it. It's probably still in the midst of the healing journey when I did that. I'm going to have to update that.

[00:09:06] I didn't post anything about it on social. There was no video or grand reflection. There was no, it's my birthday podcast episode unless you want to consider this, that. And there was a part of me that wanted to, seeing other people celebrate their birthdays right around mine at work and being like, well, it's my birthday too. And me still not saying anything.

[00:09:32] And then thinking about the types of posts and content I see people do when it's their birthday and the 10 things I've learned in the last year, whatever it is that they're celebrating. And so there was a part of me that wanted to do something like that, that wanted to be seen in that way. But there was a bigger part of me that did not. And so that's what I brought to my therapist because I was thinking to myself, man, I've done all this work.

[00:10:00] I'm happy with where I am in life. Things are going well, but yet I'm still really struggling to even do something as simple as celebrate my birthday. I mean, I'm celebrating it with my wife and that was enough. And that's kind of where she jumped in. And that's where it got really simple. At least in terms of how she explained it to me. And she basically said, Rich, for the whole time that I've known you, seven plus years, you have always been an introvert.

[00:10:29] You have always been a more reserved person. You have never been the person who just wants to constantly put yourself out there and put yourself out there. You've never been a person who wants to do big birthday celebrations. You're an introvert. This is just you. You don't have to want to put things out there. If you're a private person, you're a private person.

[00:10:52] If the only thing that mattered was celebrating that with your wife and you had an amazing time, you don't have to post pictures. You don't have to do anything. That is not a reflection of how you feel about where you are in life. It's more about you accepting who you are. And of course, I did the thing. And you could probably think of the meme with the black dude. He's got his hand on his chin and he looks like his mind is blown and the camera's kind of panning around.

[00:11:19] And I had that moment in the therapy session because I was just thinking about it so hard between my birthday and the time that we had the conversation. That man, just like even just throughout the week, I would think, oh, you know what? I'm going to post something. I'm going to mention it. And then I would sit down and then I would feel this resistance. And then once I start to feel that resistance, if I push through it in that particular context, it feels inauthentic. And I think that's the other part of it that I was wrestling with.

[00:11:46] And it kind of underscores the point that she was making is if it's feeling inauthentic, it's because that's not you. And maybe being a private person and not celebrating this particular thing publicly in that way is just part of who you are. And there are other things you are comfortable celebrating with people. You are comfortable celebrating track and field accomplishments and other things that are happening in life. But maybe you don't have to celebrate everything the way that you think other people want you to celebrate it.

[00:12:15] You celebrate it the way that you want to celebrate it. And she was right. I mean, if I was telling anybody else on the actual day that I wasn't celebrating my birthday publicly, they'd be like, man, you better put that birthday out there. Man, you need to. Yo, you need to tell. Yo, do you need me to go tell people that it's your birthday? And I appreciate that attitude. And I appreciate people wanting to celebrate me at that level. But that wasn't the way that I wanted to celebrate it.

[00:12:44] As I'm thinking about it now, because the reflection always comes later. I wanted to have the week to reflect and to think and to process and to sit in the good. Like I've sat in a lot of the good. Remember, a big part of this was me saying things are going really well right now. There's just this thing with me celebrating my birthday. I should I should want to celebrate it more broadly. But why? But why? If that's not what I actually want to do.

[00:13:14] And there's that word should that you hear in there that always gets us in trouble. And so while I've made tons of progress on accepting my past and a lot of the things that have made me the person that I am today, I've still got some work to do on accepting different parts of who I am. And there are a lot of areas where even just a few years ago, I wasn't confident in myself that now I know exactly who I am. I know exactly who I am.

[00:13:43] But there are still areas to radically accept what those things are. Knowing and accepting are two different things, two completely different things. And so that's all that I got for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you made it to this point, I'll be dropping one more episode to hit my Q1 goal of six episodes in Q1. This was the fifth episode.

[00:14:09] And I got to say, one insight that I already have just from these first five is that the specific schedule, specific day, it just it just doesn't work for me. Like at the time that I'm recording this episode, I woke up, the energy hit and it just came out. Everything was crisp.

[00:14:31] I had all the right reflection, all the right thoughts, all the right words, all the things that I would not have had last week if I instead pushed out an episode because that's what I thought that I should do versus doing and accepting who I am and what I actually wanted to do. So I hope you'll take something away from this, whether it's on the competition reps or radical acceptance. I'll be back with one more episode, as I mentioned, to hit this Q1 goal.

[00:15:00] But until then, take care of yourself. Be well. I'm out. Peace.