Competition is what drives humans. From the time of the cave man, we have been competing with each other for food, mates, and survival. Today, this innate quality has been suppressed by our lack of predators and technological advances and soon, this drive will be gone forever. There is a cure and the answer is to find something worth competing for.

Even though I suck at most things, I love competition. If you and I are sitting in the back folding towels and you fold 10, I am going to fold 11 just to say I beat you. I’m weird like that. Ill challenge guys to races who are 80lbs lighter than me and 10 times more athletic and still put my all into it. I lose every time, but those matches bring the most out of me. It comes down to pride for me. I am not afraid to fail.

I wasn’t always like this as a kid, I had no competitive drive in me at all. The moment something became a challenge, I backed out. I thought I was made of glass and he slightest bump would shatter me. I would find every excuses I could that would lead me back to my comfort zone. That got me nowhere. I had no goals and no desires out of life.

Failure is often the limited factor when people want to do anything:

“I want to run a Marathon, but I don’t want to be last”

“I would love to do a meet, but I don’t think I am strong enough”

“I think I deserve a raise, but I don’t want my boss to say no”

Getting over this fear is the first step toward achieving your goal.

When I decided to start powerlifting, I was training with guys who had totals (a combination of the lifters best squat, bench, and deadlift) well into the 2000lbs range. This is considered elite in powerlifting, and I was hopefully, average at best. To be honest, I did not think I had the right to compete with them, but they convinced me anyways.

I trained hard and ended up setting Personal records and, even more importantly, I had fulfilled a goal that I had been working toward. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment and this feeling drove me toward more competition, and not just in powerlifting. I felt the desire to challenge myself. I enjoyed working 12 hour shifts and doing the jobs other people didn’t like because I knew it was something most people would not want to do. This eventually led me
to higher paid positions and more exclusive opportunities, all from doing one competition.

My biggest advice…find the day, sign up and get to work. Commitment to a competition will ignite your life. If you are nervous, good. Being nervous shows you care and means this event will help you grow into a better person.

Here is a list of sources that may be of help:
Powerlifting meet
https://www.powerliftingwatch.com/meets-filter

Iron man
http://www.ironman.com/#axzz5FVMuTHOw

Marathons:
https://www.runnersworld.com/marathon/marathon-calendar

Olympic Weightlifting:
https://webpoint.usaweightlifting.org/wp15/Events2/Events.wp?evtc_CategoryGroup=Tournament

Strongman: http://www.unitedstatesstrongman.com/upcoming-events