My daughter and I were waiting at the bus stop for my son to come back from his inter-school tournament. He enjoys skating.
The bus arrived; he saw us waiting. There was a big smile on all our faces. He came jumping towards us, and I asked, did you have fun? He nodded his head with a considerable affirmation and smile.
I spoke to his sports Coach to get a sense of how my son did; the Coach said he did well. I was happy.
And that’s when the kiddo said with a lot of excitement; “I won gold, I wanted one, and this feels so nice Papa.”
I could feel the happiness in the seven-year boys’ eyes. I also felt good and proud.
I went to congratulate his sports Coach, and I was wondering why had he not shared this news with me?
“Yes Sir, he won gold, but he was the only one who participated in his category”, the Coach said.
Suddenly the excitement fizzled.
Within a second, a seven-year-old’s early morning practice sessions, weekly practice sessions, internal selection process, an improvement over his past performance, everything became insignificant.
Being a father and a Coach, I did correct myself. But this incident left me thinking with four essential questions:
Why are we so hard conditioned to enjoy things only if we have done better than others?
Should not be our focus solely to become the better version of ourselves?
Who are you competing with?
How is it helping you maximise your untapped potential?
This chapter is an extract from my book eXtraordinary: 51 surprisingly simple ways to get extraordinary results.
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