WHERE BECOMING A CHAMPION BEGINS (2/3)
In last week’s newsletter, we talked about what the process of becoming a champion looks like, how exactly we become the people winning requires us to be, and where that really important but really challenging work actually begins. Our winning choices and behaviors serve externally as evidence of the important work we've done first internally. That’s really where it all starts, with doing the hard work it takes to defeat our biggest and toughest opponent: ourselves. That’s where becoming a champion begins - by winning the battle within.
We talked in detail last week about those two competing voices battling for supremacy in our mind. One of those voices is what I call our inner champion. It’s the voice in our head that’s challenging and encouraging us to become our best, and to do the hard work it takes to earn the success we say we’re after. The voice of our inner loser, on the other hand, is the voice in our head encouraging us to accept mediocrity from ourselves, encouraging us to take the easy way out in our moments of testing, and encouraging us to settle for something less than our best.
On paper, this feels like a battle each of us should be able to fight and win. We say we want to win, after all, and there isn’t one of us - you included, I’m guessing - who takes pride in showing up and doing what losers do. We don’t want to be fragile or insecure or undisciplined or incapable. We want to be strong and confident and courageous. So why do we so often end up giving in to the voice of our inner loser, and end up allowing that voice to dictate our decisions and our behavior? Because when it comes to the battle happening in our mind, our inner loser doesn't fight fair.
Here are a few of the unfair fighting tactics your inner loser utilizes…
1. Your inner loser is always first to the fight. When our moments of testing come, our first instinct and our natural impulse is always to take the easy way out. As human beings, we aren’t hard-wired for greatness. We’re hard-wired for survival. That means if there’s someone to blame, something to complain about, or some excuse to make - if there’s a path of least resistance, your inner loser will spotlight it and promote it and encourage you to take it before you even have time to think.
2. Your inner loser is loud. This is a quality about that negative voice in your head that you’ve probably experienced for yourself. It just won’t shut up. In your moments of testing, not only is your inner loser the first one to the fight, it’s also the loudest voice you hear. It’s pushy and impulsive and emotional, and it’s relentless in its messaging.
3. You inner loser is a liar. This is perhaps your inner loser’s most effective fighting tactic. It is a master manipulator, and its messaging is filled with empty promises and false accusations. It will say whatever it has to say - even if it’s totally untrue - to get you to do what it wants you to do.
Let’s compare and contrast the strategy of our inner loser with the strategy of our inner champion. Remember, each of us - including you - have this inner champion inside us. You know what winning requires you to do. But in your moments of testing, your inner champion is rarely the first one to the fight. Finding and choosing to follow that voice usually requires you to press pause, and to move past your initial impulse - the first and easiest option you come to. In your moments of testing, your inner champion isn’t typically the loudest voice in your head. In fact, that voice is usually pretty quiet, and you might even have to search a little to find it. Lastly, in your moments of testing, your inner champion tells you the truth. Even if it’s not easy to hear, it will clarify for you the harsh reality that winning requires you to accept.
Hopefully you can see the two very different approaches these two competitors have chosen to take in this battle, and why our inner loser so often prevails in this fight. In next week’s newsletter - part three of this three-part series - we’ll talk about where you go from here, and how, now that you know what you’re up against, you can more effectively train yourself to fight this battle and win it. To expose your inner loser for the fraud that it is, and in doing so to strengthen and empower your winner within. Why is that so important? Because that’s where becoming a champion begins.
