In 1954, Englishman Roger Bannister and Australia's John Landy were considered two of the world's fastest runners. Earlier that year, Bannister was the first man to run the mile in under four minutes, with a time of 3:59:04. Less than two months later, Landy eclipsed Bannister's mile time by 1.4 seconds to become the new record holder. Later that summer, both men met for the first time to compete in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in a race that became known as the Miracle Mile.
During much of the race, Landy held a commanding lead, but eventually Bannister closed the gap. As both men dashed toward the finish line, Landy, who was in first, did the unthinkable. He temporarily lost focus of his goal, turned his attention away from the finish line and toward Bannister. As Landy looked over his shoulder in search of his opponent, Bannister sprinted past him to win the race. In the heat of battle, Landy was so concerned with his competitor that he became distracted. And lost.
Whether we admit it or not, many of us define our place in this world by comparing ourselves to others. We base our accomplishments on someone else's failures and compare our shortcomings another person's success. We use others as barometers to assess our strength and beauty as well as our wisdom and wit.
There is nothing unjust about being a competitive person. In fact, individual rivalry has been ingrained in our character throughout our childhood, beginning with school reports, sports days, and exam scores. Competition is what motivates us, but it's how we compete that drives us to become better or unhinged.
Landy's lifelong quest to become the world's fastest man was the healthy competition that drove him, but his immediate need to know what his competition was doing, cost him that title.
It is easy to notice everything you don’t have, but every ounce of energy you waste worrying about someone else's progress or performance is one less ounce of energy you can spend on yourself, on building your skills and making your own strides forward.
With love, Christina
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