Bill Russell (10/25/1965 Sports Illustrated) – “You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you’ve got it, you ain’t got it. No pussycats, please. The killer instinct, by my definition, is the ability to spot—and exploit—a weakness in your opponent.”

The x-factor in exhibiting greatness often is one’s competitive edge. No ideas or strategies can overcome a lack of competitiveness. Though Bill Russell defines his opponent in basketball terms, opponents can be anything to be overcome in order to reach goals. The same way Russell by any means necessary found the weaknesses in his opponents to win basketball games, people must have the mindset control to attack the necessary spots in life. One’s opponent could be negativity, laziness, or “yesterday’s version” of one’s self. And a way to defeat opponents is by intentionally creating pressure. Because once you’ve got it, you understand that battling under high stakes unleashes your advantage.

William Butler Yeats – “Do not wait to strike ’till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”

Michael Jordan (3:39) – “When you trash talk, that’s a game. It’s a game of psyching out. They try to take it as a one on one confrontation to me – which totally takes away from their team concept. I know how to play the game; I don’t think they know how to play the game when I’m talking to them.”

Michael Jordan knew he had it. Thus, he consciously cultivated tension with his opponent. While opposing players would lose their head under the pressure and be overly dialed into the 1 on 1 battle vs. Jordan, Jordan knew how to unleash his killer instinct to achieve his goal – for his team win. Jordan knew he performed best under fire, so he intentionally started one. The ability to dominate under pressure is an untapped skill for many people. It – an obsessed competitive spirit – must be intentionally developed within first; as I emphasize in posts such as Punch Yourself ?, Sweat or Blood – Choose 1, You Got a Match? ?, Willing to Die to Live … The Pain of Discipline, etc. Once developed, your dominance is given the tools to break out. In the clip below, Ray Lewis and Kevin Garnett explain how their respective dominant mentalities play out during competition.

Kevin Garnett – “In sports if you ain’t stepping on somebody – you know who you are? You’re being stepped on. So when I’m teaching mentality I hate to put it like this but – you have to dominate the game. You don’t play the game to play the game; you play the game to dominate whoever it is in front of you – nothing else.” … Ray Lewis – “If you got a thrown, I’m coming for your throne … By any means necessary, I’m gonna’ win.”

The mindsets articulated above are foreign to many people because many people don’t have it – and may not even desire to seek it due to fear of chasing their light or fear of the unknown. And as I mentioned in Out-will Every Being, it’s difficult to explain ultra competitiveness to someone that doesn’t have it in the first place because words can’t fully explain what’s in the soul. But it’s about unleashing everything you have to achieve something, and in a way being oblivious to any discomfort along the way. An extreme example of conditioning one’s mind to neglect discomfort is the mindset control utilized by former Navy Seal David Goggins.

David Goggins (30:28) – “What got me through horrible times was the dark side. My name is David Goggins – I created Goggins. Goggins is the guy that can take anything you put in front of him. You want to break my motherf****** legs, so be it. I have a way of going to a place like I did in that race where all the pain and suffering that they put on top of me in Hell Week, I will reverse that pain and suffering and I will take your soul.”

Life is competition. Every day, you are competing in some way – against the clock to reach your vision, against your productivity yesterday, against negative attitudes, etc. The key is to embrace all forms of competition because a dominant psychology is about wanting to be tested. The self-development ideas in this blog have minimal practical use if someone doesn’t say “bring it on, come test me” to life. Only a fool would develop fully internally & then when confronted with a narrow opening towards greatness, convince him/herself (s)he can’t fit through – without trying every means to do so.

Just like the idea that if someone’s not ready for the fire internally; there’s no point in seeking it – if someone’s not seeking the fire; what’s the point of preparing in one? If preparation is done under tense conditions, it must be recognized that similarly fiery conditions are required to unleash trapped greatness. One can’t be hesitant to raise stakes because from experience it should be known that pussycats don’t bring out lions; lions bring out lions. So if you’ve developed it, be confident that you are ready to confront life. And then go all in in doing so.

Bill Russell (End of Sports Illustrated Article) – “Bring on the lions. All your best lions, please. We’ll give them a few fakes, we’ll talk to the rookie lions a little, we’ll steer the other lions around, we’ll spook them up. And maybe you’ll see some lions with their manes down around their knees.”

“We Ready … We Ready …. We Ready … for y’all.”