Is your goal to be ranked #1 or to be the best?

It’s a slight difference that will take you miles apart.

The biggest obstacle to being the best is to be ranked #1.

Being ranked #1, although an honor, is not the goal.

Being the best is the goal, and that can only be achieved in battle on the mat, not on paper.

You can tell a wrestler whose mental priorities are tangled.
The wrestler ranked #1, who doesn’t attend a national tournament to keep his #1 ranking.

The one who goes up or down a weight, not wanting to meet a wrestler who is ranked below him.

The one who, when you sit down and talk to, you can detect a hint of a fear of losing, as if losing that match was final, with no other reward.

The “Ranked #1” wrestler is in “Prevent Defense” mode, and that is the easiest way to give up points.

A #1 ranking is stagnant, a moment in time.

Please don’t get into the bad habit of trying to make it permanent without results.

The quest to be the best is a continuous pursuit of excellence and improvement.

The “I want to be the best” wrestler is in mission mode and seeks out competing against the best, and can use the outcome, win or lose, as fuel to fund their mission.

The “I want to be the best” wrestler optimizes his weight class and goes through everyone in it. That’s what being the best means.

When you want to be the best, your work ethic and belief system are different.

At first, there is only a slight difference between the two types of wrestlers. But they are driven by different forces and will end up in drastically different destinations. I liken it to being at the beach on a sunny summer day and wading in the current. At first, you can look up and still see your beach towel on the sand from the water, then, ever so slightly, the current takes you a little further away, and over time, it becomes so strong that it takes you to a place where you can’t see it anymore.

Never lose sight of the fact that the goal is not to be ranked #1.

It is to be the best.