I just completed an online bike ride, and I could hardly believe my eyes. The results came in that I finished first! First place! Me!
(I felt that it wasn’t my best ride. Maybe there was a mistake.)
Then I saw the number of riders also riding with me.
Zero.
I was first out of zero.
I burst out laughing because the accomplishment suddenly meant so little. And it didn’t even make sense. How can someone be first if there’s not even a race? Is there even such a thing as first out of zero? If you’re first out of zero, and you know you never really tried and didn’t really do your best, it’s not first. It’s not anything. It’s just a poor ride.
I’m not a competitive person. But when it comes to goal setting, you don’t want to be first out of zero. You want to know you’re being challenged and rising above what you were yesterday.