I lived at the Shaolin temple in China for 1 year studying Kung Fu.

No, I didn’t study Kung Fu before that.

No, I wasn’t a huge Kung Fu fan.

I knew nothing about Kung Fu minus a bit about Bruce Lee, Wutang Clan lyrics, and a performance video of real Shaolin monks called “Shaolin Wheel of Life”.

Admittedly, I was in awe of the pain defying things they could do with their strength and bodies, but nothing that made me feel the need to go out and take a class. I was in my 30’s for crying out loud, who’s going to just take up Kung Fu in their thirties?

A close friend that had been trying to convince me to come to visit China told me about this Shaolin training opportunity open to foreigners.

And the website did paint quite a romanticized picture of ancient Chinese wisdom in an dream like setting of forests, temples, and monks…oh my!

It sounded cool, but I mean, come on… was I really going to be doing that? Who just stops their life and leave to China for a year to do something they know nothing about?

(Spoiler alert: It’s me, I do that kind of stuff)

After sitting with it in the back of my mind, and with some encouragement from a mentor, I somehow ended up at “If not now, when?”

I got rid of my house, sold my car, ended a relationship, and put the rest of my life in a storage unit.

My friends were perplexed “hmmm, I didn’t know you were into Kung fu” they’d say with a confused face.

AKA: They thought I went crazy.

I thought I went crazy.

And off I went from Los Angeles to Shanghai, Shanghai to Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou to Dengfeng, Dengfeng to a tiny village 30 minutes out, arriving at the massive entrance gates of the Shaolin temple.

On the first night I arrived, I immediately regretted my choice.

• What the heck was I thinking?
• What am I doing here?
• I don’t belong here.

The next morning we woke up and did Tai Chi within the temple courtyard built over 1500 years ago.

I took a deep breath, taking in the reality of my surroundings and my experience.

Holy crap! I’m training Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple!!

I stood on the same ground as countless monks before me.

Those same monks that also did not know Kung Fu.

Those same monks that also had not trained before.

They weren’t there as “martial arts enthusiasts”…

They were there to find themselves.

To discover a sense of purpose, and direction.

To create a path to great personal discipline and self mastery.

They were there to become better versions of themselves.

…and so was I.

In training and grading, we didn’t compete against each other.

Shifu came by and looked only at you.

You had to be better than yourself yesterday.

It didn’t matter if I was better than this guy or that guy (let’s be honest, it was mostly guys there).

I had to be better than myself.

One day we were instructed to lift our legs behind us and touch our heads.

I was very flexible, so I did that with no problem.

Me: Look Shifu! I can do it.

He was not impressed.

Shifu: Ok. Bring your foot past the back of your head to your forehead.

So I stretched and practiced.

Me: Look Shifu. It’s on my forehead.

Shifu: “Now your nose” he said.

I reached my nose.

Me: Look Shifu!

Shifu: “Now your mouth” he said.

On that day, when I stood there, literally with my foot in my mouth…

I realized…my only competition was myself.

Shifu wasn’t there for me to win over.

He was there to push me past my own limits.

We often fall into the trap of constantly comparing ourselves to others and striving to be better than the competition.

The truth is that we are our only real competition.

It’s us.

We need to be focused on pushing past our own limits and beliefs, keeping a mindset that allows us to stay in momentum and progress.

• It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing.
• It doesn’t matter how many followers they have.
• It doesn’t matter how many likes their last post got.
• It doesn’t matter what size their email list is.

What they do DOES NOT MATTER.

They are not you.

Only YOU can bring YOU to the market.

What really matters is how good we are and how much of ourselves we put out into the world.

The goal is not to beat the competition but to inspire ourselves to be the best that we can be.

By looking within and focusing on our own growth and development, we can find the motivation and drive to achieve great things.

So, let’s shift our perspective and start competing with ourselves, pushing past our own limits and beliefs, and unleashing our full potential.