Competition is the driving force behind major sports. Whether you’re a professional player or just a guy playing sports on the weekends, you want to win. But what if the toughest competition isn’t with other people but with yourself? The ‘Me versus Me’ mentality is a significant weapon that may help athletes win despite difficult circumstances.
First of all, let’s define the ‘Me versus Me’ mentality. It’s the belief that you have to beat yourself before you can beat anyone else. You ignore your rival and instead concentrate on giving the finest performance possible. This way of thinking involves never letting your competitors’ actions influence your own goals and standards.
The ‘Me versus Me’ mentality is difficult to cultivate, but it is possible. To help you get started, consider the following:
1. Set clear, specific goals for yourself. These goals should be hard but not impossible to reach, and they should be based on how well you do, not how well your opponents do.
2. Pay attention to the process, not the result. Instead of thinking about the end score or whether you win or lose, pay attention to how you can improve your performance. This means breaking your goals down into smaller, more doable steps and working on each step one at a time.
3. Don’t be afraid of failing. Failing is a normal part of learning, and it’s important for building a ‘Me versus Me’ attitude. Instead of seeing a loss as a setback, you should see it as a chance to learn and grow. Use your mistakes as a reason to work harder and get better at what you do.
4. Be responsible for yourself. When you have a ‘Me versus Me’ attitude, you are your harshest judge. Hold yourself responsible for how well you do, and be honest about your skills and flaws. Use what you’ve learned about yourself to change and improve your training and battle.
5. Look for challenges. If you really want to have a ‘Me versus Me’ attitude, you need to look for tasks that push you to your limits. Whether it’s trying a new sport, fighting against a tough opponent, or setting a new personal best, look at difficulties as chances to get better.
Michael Phelps
Simone Biles
Real-life examples
So how does the ‘Me versus Me’ way of thinking work in sports? Let’s look at some examples from real life:
Michael Jordan is one of the best examples of a ‘Me versus Me’ player in basketball. Jordan was known for working hard all the time and being able to push himself to new heights. He gave himself clear, specific goals, like winning titles and getting a certain number of points, and he never settled for less than his best.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a football player who also has a ‘Me versus Me’ mentality. Ronaldo is known for always wanting to be the best and being a tough competitor. He has high expectations for himself and never settles for less than perfection. He works hard both on and off the pitch to improve his game.
Serena Williams is a great example of a ‘Me versus Me’ player because she is good at tennis. Williams is known for having a strong mind and being able to work through problems. She gives herself clear, specific goals, like winning Grand Slam events, and she works hard, even when things don’t go her way, to reach those goals.
Sylvester Stallone as Robert ‘Rocky’ Balboa motivates Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis ‘Donnie’ Creed in the film Creed. It’s about challenging yourself
Michael Phelps, who has won more Olympic medals than any other swimmer, comes to mind. Phelps has won an amazing 23 gold medals in his career, but he is no stranger to problems. Before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Phelps broke his wrist, which could have hurt his chances of doing well. Even though it was a setback, Phelps didn’t let his injury stop him. He worked hard to heal his wrist, and in the end, he won a record-setting eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps says that his ‘Me versus Me’ attitude helped him stay focused on his goals and push through pain and self-doubt.
Simone Biles, an American gymnast who has won multiple gold medals at the Olympics, is another athlete who embodies the ‘Me versus Me’ mentality. Biles is known for her amazing speed and skill, but she is also a master at being mentally tough. Before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Biles had to deal with a lot of problems, like the games being moved because of the pandemic and a bad case of the “twisties”, a disease that can make gymnasts lose their sense of spatial awareness mid-routine. They lose control of their bodies as they spin through the air.
Even with all of these problems, Biles didn’t give up. She took some time off to work on her mental health, and she worked hard to get over her physical problems. In the end, she went back to the competition and won a bronze medal on the balance beam. This showed once again that having a ‘Me versus Me’ attitude is a strong way to deal with problems.
Also, I would be forgetting something important if I didn’t mention Tom Brady, the famous quarterback who has won seven Super Bowls in his career. People know Brady for how hard he works and how much he wants to be the best. Even though Brady has had a lot of success, he has also had his share of bad luck over the years. In 2008, he got a terrible knee injury that kept him out of the game for the whole season. Brady didn’t let the accident get him down. Instead, he used it to push himself to come back better than ever. Since then, he has kept pushing himself to get better, even as he was getting close to his 40s. He says that his ‘Me versus Me’ attitude helps him stay focused on his goals and push through the hurdles that come up in sports and in life.
As a last example, let’s look at Virat Kohli, who is renowned for his extreme competitiveness and a never-ending desire to excel. Over the course of his career, he has broken several records, and he has been a major factor in India’s recent success.
However, there have been several obstacles to Kohli’s success. He had a bad patch of form in 2014, during which he struggled to score runs. Instead of giving up, Kohli used it to push himself to become a better player. He proved that the ‘Me versus Me’ mentality can enable athletes of all levels to triumph over adversity by emerging from the slump as a better, more resilient player.
Athletes who strive for excellence might greatly benefit from adopting a ‘Me versus Me’ mentality. Athletes from Michael Phelps, who competed despite a fractured wrist, to Simone Biles, who overcame the “twisties” to Tom Brady, who refused to let age slow him down, have all employed the attitude to overcome obstacles and perform at their highest levels. We can all take something away from their ‘Me versus Me’ mentality as sports fans and aspiring players.
Anwar Wahhab is a Mental Performance Mastery Coach and a Bioprint practitionerYou can reach him atanwarwahhab@awefitness.com
