#winning

Someone recently posed the question "Does winning matter? Or is it good enough to compete?" To answer, I thought back to the competitions I've been in this year. I never had any intention of winning the Iron Belle Challenge or Fight Gone Bad. I am all for positive thinking and a champion mindset, but no amount of visualizing first place was going to overcome years of a sedentary lifestyle. Still, I look back on both of those days as huge victories. When I signed up for each one, I had a vague goal in mind. As I trained and worked towards each one I set specific goals for myself. As I competed, I had my goal in mind and was ecstatic to surpass it each time. When posting about the events online, I absolutely used the #win hashtag. So did I win? I didn't take home any medals, trophies, or honors. All I took home were some photos, a t-shirt, and a mental image of me in that moment juxtaposed with me from 8 months ago.

- fast forward through hours of inner dialogue and a whole lot of nothing happening -

Here are my personal beliefs. I think you win when you reach what you set out to do. If you set out to attain a trophy, you win when you receive that trophy. If you set out to beat a certain personal record, you win when you beat that record. I realize there are many arguments to be made against the liberal interpretation of the word win and I don't disagree with all of them. I am just choosing to decide what victory means to me. After spending more time than necessary, I have come to the conclusion that my daily goal is still the same:

Today, I want to be my yesterday. And if I beat my yesterday, I win.

So yes. Winning matters and competition is good. I just choose to pit Jo 3.0 vs Jo 2.0.

Choose your competition, define your win, and conquer.
-PaleoJo