20. IMITATE THE BEST AND COMPETE MOSTLY WITH YOURSELF

Arthur Ashe

You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.

(Richard Bandler, 2008)

Develop your skills:

1. Choose a role model: a person whose physical abilities you would like to emulate.
2. Spend as much time as possible studying their behaviour, live or on video. Relax as you watch and adjust how you listen and perceive. Focus on the flow of their actions.
3. Once you are familiar with their behaviour, close your eyes, relax and mentally replay the sequence performed at the highest level. Observe and listen carefully to create a model of the skill.
4. After watching for a while, imagine entering that person’s perspective. See through the eyes of the person who has achieved mastery, hear through their ears and feel what they feel. Repeat the same sequence in your mind, this time from within. Notice your body’s response. Repeat several times until you feel comfortable with it.
5. Step out of the person’s imagined body again, intending to retain as much of the skill as possible when you return to your usual awareness.
6. Whenever you have the opportunity, practise this borrowed skill. Observe how the mental exercise has improved your results.
7. Repeat the exercise at least once a day for the first 21 days, then at least once a week to maintain your level. Between sessions, practise in real life whenever you have the chance.

(Robert K. Cooper, 2006)

In today's world those who have outrun the best claim that it has actually been their own gradual self-improvement and not the competition itself that has determined their results. They realize that their triumphs don't take someone else to lose.
Scientists advise people to drop the competitive thinking while training, because the results improve once you let go the pressure. In fact, according to one of the researchers dealing with this area, the highest outcomes not only do not require any competition, but also they seem to involve a complete lack of it.