WIN THE BATTLE WITHIN
There are many battles winning requires us to fight. Sometimes that battle involves someone we're competing with or against - someone who wants the same thing we’re after. Sometimes it involves the challenging conditions we are forced to compete in, or some unexpected adversity that complicates our pursuit. But the truth is, these public battles are secondary to the biggest battle we fight, the private one happening inside our own head. Success requires us, first and foremost, to win the battle within.
Each of us have two conflicting voices fighting for attention and supremacy in our mind. One of those voices is what I call our inner champion. This is the voice pushing us to become our best. It’s the voice encouraging us to step in the arena and compete with courage. It reminds us to remain both humble and hungry. It inspires us to get tough in our moments of testing. Our inner champion clarifies what our full potential looks like and challenges us to turn that vision into reality.
The other voice in our head is the voice of our inner loser. This is the voice encouraging us to accept mediocrity from ourselves, and to take the easy way out in our moments of testing. It wants us to become the victim of our circumstances - to become a blamer, a complainer, and an excuse maker. Our inner loser is the voice of fear, keeping us from doing the hard but necessary thing that winning requires. At the same time, it suggests that success should come easy and that we deserve to get everything we think we are entitled to. Our inner loser is constantly bargaining with us, hoping we'll settle for something less than our best.
On paper, this feels like a fight we should win. Just look at those two competing lists above. None of us - including you, I bet - woke up this morning thinking, “Today I want to be insecure and work to avoid the truth. I want to let my fear run the show, and focus on being as weak and fragile as possible.” That’s ridiculous. We all want to be confident and courageous and tough. We want our inner champion to prevail. So why doesn’t it? Because our inner loser doesn't fight fair.
Our inner loser is a liar and a cheater. That voice is relentless in its messaging. It's pushy, impulsive, and misleading. It tells us today’s not all that important when it is, that we’re getting cheated when we’re not, and that we know it all when we don’t. It won't be worth it, it says. You’re wasting your time. You don’t have what it takes. Our inner loser is conniving and manipulative, running a campaign filled with empty promises and false accusations. And more often than we'd like to admit, it's a strategy that works.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all that noise and nonsense, our inner champion is quietly and confidently speaking the truth. It’s rarely the first or the loudest voice we hear, but it is there. It’s messaging is simple, honest, and direct. Today does matter, it says. Stay in the fight. This is gonna be tough, but it will be worth it. You’ve got what it takes.
When you stop and consider how each of these competitors chooses to fight, it’s not hard to see why our inner loser regularly prevails. In fact, it makes sense why so many people willingly accept something less than their best. When we respond impulsively to the first voice we hear in our moments of testing, or when we choose the quickest, easiest, and most convenient way out of the battle within, then we allow our inner loser to win.
That’s why we’ve got to be intentional in our moments of testing. We’ve got to press pause and recognize that the initial, impulsive voice in our head - as loud and convincing as it may seem - probably isn't the one worth listening to. We’ve got to stop and consider, in that moment, how our inner champion is calling us to respond.
Then we can do what is probably the hard but necessary thing that success requires from us, and in doing so validate that we are in fact people worthy of winning. Then we can outperform those we're competing with and against - those who want the same thing we're after. We can handle whatever conditions and whatever adversity come our way. We can win the public battles we have to fight, but it all starts inside our own head. First and foremost, we have to win the battle within.