Read This If You Want To Be a Better Human

Warning I came out of the gate this morning with flames coming out of my eyes, energy bursting through the screen and from downing a cup of pre-workout after doing an actual workout so buckle up, this one has got some zing to it.

I’ve shared below an image of Kobe Bryant and his 10 life rules.

Number #2 stands out to me.

It reads: PROVE THEM WRONG

I love this and resonates so much. Why? Because ve faced non-believers ever since I joined the workforce. I never fit in and wasn’t the usual suspect for the roles I’ve built for myself and my companies.
My Tech peers have the opposite of teh below going for them in most cases:
– I don’t come from a fancy university or college.
– I didn’t graduate high school.
– I’ve not got money in my family and
– I’m completely self-taught.
– I’m 6.7Ft tall I weigh 150Kgs and
– I’m tattooed from neck to toe.

I don’t look like a traditional nerd. I used to be a bouncer, but I built a company up scaled it to 5,000 employees across the country and sold it. So there must be a pink squishy thing between my ears that works. I would be the most unlikely tech leader in every coding, engineering and tech space in the traditional sense.

I don’t get the tick of approval from the industry leaders at a glance. I need to earn it. Kobes’s 2nd rule is my Rocket fuel.

My goal every year professionally is to find someone that I really admire and try to keep up with their work rate, try to get on their radar and try to compete against them. The one problem is that they don’t know I’m competing against them.

I will also find one person who really irks me so much that I get a little frustrated and start to turn a little red. Basically, I go Red Hulk mode. This I find puts the wind in my sails as they say and gives me some fire for being my best self.

I want everyone reading this to be my competition.
Everyone out there to be their best selves so that I feel it and have to evolve and be on another level just to compete.

My friends know that I am someone who locks onto a target and just like a heat-seeking missile Ill get the target. Its just a matter of distance to striking range.

In my older years I’ve not been as hungry at times when I would have been an absolute beast in drive and determination, But over the last couple of years I might of chosen to be a little more lax on routine.

I might choose to:

Sleep in a little longer
Hit snooze on my alarm once
Not gone and done my morning workout
Not taken that extra long walk
Not taken time to stretch before a big workout (dumbass)
Not gone for that insane target because the work to get to it is a lot to commit to
And eaten that slice of cake one too many times.

It happens! And that may be my comfort words just to make it sound ok to myself but its not.

I love competition. I thrive on it and while I shy away from the public stage and accolades deep down I want everyone to know that this MF tore it up. This guy gets it done and he works at manic levels to accomplish his goals. That kind of lights my fire when I get validated for being a little insane about my work ethic and efforts.

So yes, I thrive on competition. But I also want to level the playing field by inspiring as many people as humanly possible to start something, to reach for the skies and to build really cool projects that make me want to think about building. And for me to actually want to buy your product that’s the big wow factor.

The spoils of war from being so competitive are obviously money flows in but also the wealth of that can be spread across your loved ones. You put the work in you get the reward, and the reward empowers you to give your family the things that they have never experienced before.

I want my competitors to become the authority in the space so that I can put a picture of their face on my dart board and use it as fuel for the coming year. Is that a bit too much? maybe but it works for me.

If I see posts of messages of my competitors (the ones that don’t really know we are competing remember) showing off their success, their Lambo, their boat, their 4,000-inch flat screen I use that as fuel for the drive I’m about to unload on my work day.

There’s nothing better for fueling me on than someone else flaunting their success. I’ll use that for the next month to push me through backlog and targets like a madman. It’s sick, it’s a small concern but it’s also a habit that the highly successful have, drive and determination. I get it from my old man he’s a workhorse and a half.

I love it when people outwork me. It inspires me and it gives me that target destination to strive for. I find this to be a cycle of god personal growth every time I go into this loop I come out better, it is a little painful for my wife who just wants to spend time with me. But I’m off in the lab building, getting faster, stronger and smarter.

Gee typing it out here makes me think this could be a little toxic but knowing the pattern and cycle I know its controlled growth. It’s almost like Superman drinking a cup of Kryptonite each data to boost his immune system and eventually lower the effects that Kryptonite has on him.

If my colleagues and competitors break barriers and take their game to the next level I want to be right there with them. That pest that just won’t give up neck and neck. My circle of friends are the ones that don’t quit, don’t settle for less and are always pushing the barrier of what’s possible. That’s my people.

The best type of men (women) are those that are similar and crave the same things. They will as a group knowingly or unknowingly push each other. Better men attract each other the support be it in person or from afar can make an impact. My network is small but it’s packed with people I am chasing to reach their levels of success as a worker, as a father as a lover and as a decent human being.

I want to be better

This post was inspired by two things.