Can You Be a Lion or Gazelle?

Best-selling author and journalist Christopher McDougall once wrote: “Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest Lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a Lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest Gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the Lion or a Gazelle. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” His advice was practical before the COVID-19 outbreak and is even more relevant now. Our lives may seem like they’ve changed, but in reality, they’ve only shifted.

Each day, our greatest competition remains ourselves. When we focus our minds on the “real” competition, the game becomes easier to play. When we strive for high performance, our brains become laser-focused, we don’t get emotional or sensitive, and we worry only about our self-improvement.

Dr. David Rock is an expert when it comes to the state of high performance. He’s trained over 10,000 people thanks to his background in neuroscience and leadership and has shown them how to get the most out of their brains. What Dr. Rock learned was as simple as the Lion and Gazelle. The Lion and Gazelle have one main objective each day. Neither gets distracted or bored. Instead, they stay present and work toward their one daily goal. It’s not complicated for them, and it shouldn’t be for us.

When we compete against ourselves each day, we boost our brainpower. We gain great satisfaction from the progress we make and then start to crave success every single day. Dr. Rock believes the self-competition gives us a feeling of elevated status, leading to higher dopamine and serotonin levels (two of your happiness hormones) and lower cortisol levels (a stress hormone). This then helps us think better and process information faster. Each time we hone our skills by being present, not multi-tasking, not worrying about anyone other than ourselves, we gain the energy for a productive future — one day at a time.

Tomorrow when you wake up, know that the only real competition lies within. Can you improve each day? Can you keep from becoming sidetracked? Can you win the daily race?

Please forward and share this email with your friends and family.