Happy Friday!  I hope you’re gearing up for a great hockey weekend, getting started with this week’s Playbook.

This week’s edition is something a little different from the usual technical analysis, based on a great passage I read this week from one of my favorite writers - James Clear.  I thought it was worth diving into, as I think it offers some very sage advice to young & high performance players a like.

In fact the subject line of this email is straight out of the passage that I found in James Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 Newsletter, which I highly recommend as some of the best writing and wisdom to be found on the internet.   I quote:

“Somewhere, at this very moment, someone appears to be doing better than you. Their progress is faster. Perhaps their business grows more quickly or their career is advancing rapidly. Maybe dating is easy for them or their progress in the gym seems to come effortlessly. In any domain, there is always another life that shimmers more than your own.

But comparison is a poor use of energy. You were not meant to inhabit someone else's story. You have your own work to do. The goal is not to beat their life, the goal is to live your life. Keep your eyes on your own paper. Stay on the path and continue forward, even when progress feels slow.”

I think this idea is very powerful, but also a conflicting one, for those of us heavily involved in a team sport.  I also think it has some very interesting applications for both coaches and players.

We can all consider and maybe agree with a similar quote on this topic by Theodore Roosevelt “Comparison is the thief of all joy” and also admit that it is totally unavoidable in our world of sports.  We are competing (and therefore comparing) directly against our opponents on a weekly basis and also internally for our place in the team against our teammates and often friends.

How can we compete hard and push ourselves to be the best players we can be, without losing our love for the game by constantly judging ourselves against the standards of others and being disheartened when we come up short?

Because outside of maybe two or three players in the world, there will always be a better player than us. Just the same as the scenarios described above in James Clear’s passage.

I don’t think there is a clear right answer here and i’m not going to pretend to have one.   But I think there are a few mental frameworks that might help us have a healthier approach to competition and comparison.

The idea that your main competition and comparison should be against yourself is I think a better way to frame this for athletes.   Are you a better player than you were yesterday or last week?   As a team are you making progress over the season, are the performances improving from week to week?      

If we are going to focus on those people at higher levels of performance than us, then use them as sources of inspiration not envy or jealousy.  What can we learn from them?  Why are they better than us?  If we can understand and learn from those we compare ourselves to, that is a more valuable mental exercise.

Whilst we are not meant to inhabit someone else’s story, invariably in a team sport like hockey, many of our personal stories are closely intertwined. That is how it should be, that is what makes it so great.  We are sharing highs and lows, challenges and glory with our teammates.  This means we must learn to compete and compare in a healthy way, so we can all create many more great journeys and stories within this game we love.