THE COMPETITOR PLAYBOOK
No fluff. No rah-rah. Just tactical, real-world strategies to help you compete today - at work, at home, in life. Because life’s too short to drift through it.
The leadership skill hiding in holiday small talk
HEY COMPETITOR, Compete Every Day There's a great chance that you're about to spend the next 36 days trapped in conversations you don't want to have. Thanksgiving dinner with relatives you see once a year who immediately ask what you're doing for work - then glaze over when you answer. Your spouse's company holiday party, where you know exactly zero people, and spend the first 20 minutes pretending to be fascinated by the cheese table. New Year's gatherings where someone inevitably corners...
How to Take Feedback Like a Competitor, Not a Victim
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. I'll never forget that practice. The anger and embarrassment welling up as tears I fought to keep inside. Driving home that day, I was ready to "retire" from the game I loved. I told my friend the next day in class that I was going to ride out the rest of the season and quit. "I don't like it anymore," was the line I used. The truth? I was humiliated. It had been a normal practice, but something was off. I couldn't complete passes that were routine the...
Your perfect conditions are coming (right after you're dead)
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. The circumstances you're waiting for won't make you take action; they'll just give you better excuses. I spent a week and a half last month in Europe with my wife. First hotel? Fantastic gym. Full equipment. Empty most mornings. Easy to stay consistent. Second hotel? Different story. Limited equipment. It was crowded the two times I went in. The perfect setup to tell myself, "I can't get a good workout in here." And for about 10 seconds, I almost bought...
Why Your "Big Break" Is Actually Holding You Back
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. The most dangerous lie we tell ourselves isn’t “I can’t do it.” It’s: “I can do it… if only I had what they have.” I was reminded of this truth one morning in an Uber. The speaker sitting next to me vented about his career struggles. “If I could just get a bureau like so-and-so, I could finally build traction,” he said. He believed the only thing missing was someone else stepping in to open the door. I smiled because I’d been there too. In the early...
Every yes is a no to something better
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. I was sitting in my office, staring at my calendar, and I couldn't breathe. Every day was color-coded. Every hour accounted for. Flights booked months out. Coffee meetings stacked back-to-back. Networking events that "might lead to something." Client calls bleeding into dinner time. This was 2022: the year my speaking business took off. I'd tripled my revenue. The gigs were rolling in. This was everything I'd been grinding toward for years. And I was...
The Las Vegas table that changed everything
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. I was sitting at a table in Las Vegas, at a conference I'd saved up to attend, wearing clothes I didn't normally wear, trying to look like I belonged. Everyone was talking seven figures. Intricate funnel systems. Marketing automation. Then someone asked me: "What about you, Jake? What's your funnel look like?" I felt my face get hot. "I, uh... I'm not at that level yet." The truth? I didn't have a funnel. I had an F-150 truck that I loaded up every...
Stop treating every day like sudden death.
Hey Competitor, Compete to win yours. Tomorrow is October 1st, the fourth quarter. You're either thinking "Fresh start - let's finish strong" or you're looking at the calendar thinking "I already blew the first three quarters, what's the point now?" Here's the thing: That same all-or-nothing thinking? It's probably how you're treating your days, too. I know because I lived it for years. The Donut Spiral Late twenties. Pre-Compete Every Day. I'd wake up with the best intentions. Morning...
Are you a standard-setter or standard-taker?
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. Hey Reader, I took a lot of pride in wearing number "4" in high school football. When I knew I was graduating, I wanted whoever wore it after me to hold themselves to the same standard I had. I wanted #4 to mean something at our school - like other numbers meant for players who had moved on. As I grew older, I reflected on the same concept in various roles in life. From my fraternity's social chair position (which was a poor run, honestly) to being a...
Your best people aren't quitting for money (here's the real reason)
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. You hired them because they were the best. Six months later, they're gone. Sound familiar? I was talking to a construction company owner last month who lost three team members in four months - all solid performers who got recruited by competitors offering "better opportunities." His first instinct was to blame the money, figure they got outbid by someone with deeper pockets. It's always about the money, right? But is it really? Here's the reality:...
The embarrassing thought I had at 42
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. I'm standing in the middle of a packed group workout class, sweat dripping, legs shaking like a newborn calf. The workout today is brutal. Around me, athletes half my age are grinding through the same reps. My lungs are screaming. My form is starting to break down. And then it happens. That voice - quiet at first, then louder - starts whispering: "Skip a few reps. Nobody's counting. You'll finish first." At 42 years old. After decades of talking about...
No fluff. No rah-rah. Just tactical, real-world strategies to help you compete today - at work, at home, in life. Because life’s too short to drift through it.