do not underestimate the savages you're competing against

obvious lessons from ultras

we humans are afflicted by various biases, namely, we tend to see the world through a clouded lens most of the time. And we think we’re seeing HD.

Sometimes I catch myself rejoicing over the failure of a competitor of mine. Sometimes I’m comparing myself to billionaires. And most importantly, recently, I’ve realized that I’ve been taking it soft in business compared to my real competition: 30yr olds that are currently building the next billion-trillion dollar AGI companies, longevity companies, etc.

It’s easy to get rich and complacent and start going soft on your business self. That’s when mediocrity sets it. You just surround yourself with other soft/wealthy ppl and laugh it off.

The thing is when you show up at the starting line of an ultra, whatever the outer appearance of the folks you’re racing against, you quickly realize you're against a bunch of savages. These people’s minds are just wired differently.

This guy Javier when I started the race, I was like, I’m gonna beat his 50 yr old ass, I didn’t like the looks of his. I passed him in the race. Then he passed me back. Blame it on his shoes or nutrition, he still outstrategized/outperformed me.

This other guy that I forgot the name of, he started chit-chatting with me during the race. I was like “why the fuck is this guy talking to me”. He was then offering me food. I passed him but he started running passing me after we both finished running this 600m uphill. I thought he’d give up midrace. I thought he was soft, but he passed me and we shook hands at the end of the race. I thought I was in a position to give him advice, yet he beat me.

I’ve had fat people outswim me on 10k’s, same in Ironmans. Never underestimate ppl’s internal savagery. It’s beautiful.

I just realized that comparing myself with just CEOs / founders was not a smart thing to do this year. Doing a bunch of pods and interviewing more than 2k of them, I realized probably 2-5% where highly competitive and top performers. These are the folks I’m competing against. And they are not to be underestimated. Ego can have you think you do best, but humans have this grit that’ll have them push their limits.

Competition is a beautiful thing.