Learning to compete with yourself: How to spark your competitive fire every day.
Jake Thompson Wants You to Compete Every Day - With Yourself!
What if the key to reaching your full potential in your career and life wasn't about what talents you were born with, but something more?
In this conversation, Jake Thompson recounts how growing up as a small athlete in football‑crazy Texas taught him to outwork bigger opponents, yet eventually led him to a pivotal realization: the healthiest competition is with your own previous self, not with others. He explains how this shift inspired him to launch Compete Every Day, a company and philosophy that encourages people to beat yesterday’s best through intentional habits, journaling and focusing on purpose rather than comparison.
You will learn that that constantly comparing yourself to others is exhausting; instead, competing against your own previous performance fosters sustainable growth.
You’ll discover how to use rules like the “midnight rule,” where you can learn from failures, treat them as lessons and then move forward without dwelling on them.
Many high performers feel trapped by comparison. Thompson’s insights help you break free from unhealthy competition, and shows you how to focus on what you can control—effort, attitude and habits— to channel your competitive drive into beating yesterday’s version of you.
Because motivation fades and discipline compounds so when we compete with ourselves - we can get a little bit better every day.
Key take aways:
Compete against yourself, not others.
Clarify your “why” and review it daily.
Effort counts twice as much as talent.
Turn setbacks into lessons and move forward quickly.
Build communities that reinforce your inner competitor.
“our talent is not the same as how hard you’ll work. Talent counts—there’s no denying it factors into our success—but effort counts twice as much.”
Today’s Expert Guest - Jake Thompson
Jake Thompson is the founder and Chief Encouragement Officer of Compete Every Day, a performance company built around a competitive mindset. A keynote speaker and leadership performance coach, he works with sales-led and high performance organizations to help leaders “compete every day” by focusing on who they were yesterday rather than beating others. Thompson’s Compete Every Day® framework have impacted more than 100,000 leaders worldwide. He has authored three books—Compete Every Day, Lead Better Now and The Line—and his globally ranked podcast has been downloaded over two million times
Follow Jake on Instagram & Linked In.
Check out his website.
Explore his books.
COMPETE EVERY DAY: The Not‑So‑Secret Secret to Winning At Work and Life
Thompson’s first book examines seven key choices that separate high‑performers from everyone else and teaches readers to enhance focus, raise standards and “beat yesterday’s best.” The Compete Every Day framework encourages readers to see competition as an internal driver rather than an external battle.
This podcast contains advice and information relating to health and wellness. It should be used to supplement rather than replace the advice of your doctor or another trained health professional. If you know or suspect that you have a health problem, seek your physician’s advice before embarking on any medical program or treatment. All efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the information contained in this podcast / interview / article as of the date of publication. The author and publisher disclaim liability for any medical or other outcomes that may occur as a result of applying the methods suggested in this material.
