WHY COMPETE? Integrating Sport, Wellness, and Winning Into Our Pursuit Of a Better
We compete for job positions, titles, clients, salaries, or medals. Competition drives us to be the best version of ourselves and sometimes the worst. Join our live talk to discuss:
- Why compete?
- When do we compete at our best?
- When should we not compete?
We invite you to join live talks with Olympians and Performance Coaches to explore topics that help us break our limits.
HOSTS
Inga Stasiulionyte, Olympian in javelin throwing, performance coach at Valor Performance, and founder of ofounders.com
Joe Jacobi, Olympic Gold medalist at whitewater slalom, performance coach at Valor Performance, and founder of joejacobi.com
LIVE TALKS: WHY COMPETE? Integrating Sport, Wellness, and Winning Into Our Pursuit Of a Better
Watch the recording here:
TIMESTAMPS
01:30 — What is the meaning of competition?
- Being aware and intentional of what we want to take away from competition
- Understating the bigger why we do what we do
14:20 — What does it mean to win?
- Not getting distracted from our journey
- Training levels: training to train, training to compete, training to win
- Losing competition does not mean we are losers as a person
20:00 — Comparing ourselves to others
- Getting inspired by competitors but never losing our uniqueness
- Three levels of comparison: 1. Looking at people who are at a higher level and seeing them as a benchmark; 2. Surrounding ourselves with a similar level of peers, supporting and learning from each other; 3. Helping beginners to grow in our field
- We can learn from everyone.
- Being aware of what learning stage we are in our growth journey
- Do we compare ourselves to others in their prime? As beginners, we cannot use a professional at their peak to judge ourselves for not being able to accomplish the same results.
27:40 — How do we promote competing for health and wellness vs. competing for a medal?
- Sports need both participants, those who compete for wellness and those who compete for medals. Maybe we can find a way to compete for medals in a healthy way.
- Staying committed to our values
- Choosing to be part of environments that promote and support our values
- What would you pay attention to if you would not measure results? If you would not have any data about your performance, what did you feel when you performed? Learning to trust and understand the meaning of our feelings
- Coaches have an immense influence on our sports/performance experience.
- Creating a culture of fun, enjoyment, and engagement
43:00 — How do we start something new? The fear of not succeeding and dealing with the feeling of shame when everyone would see us being bad at it.
- Accepting our limits to be creative and inspired by our edges
- Not getting in our way of learning, giving our body enough time to grow and develop the new skills
- Being grateful and kind to ourselves and never forgetting to have fun and laugh at ourselves
- Selecting the right team on the journey to greatness because we will never get there alone
53:00 — Sometimes, sports are perceived as wartime, and, at the same time, it is only a game. It is a game that is fun to play and be part of.
- Shared humility and humanity
- Finding our people
- Finding what works for us
Takeaways
- Competing for curiosity — advancing for a better version of ourselves, relationships, and life.
- Competing to feel alive!
