READING TIME: 2 MINUTES
In sports, you hear pundits talk about a player's "appetite for the game". Some players go for the goal or tackle at a breakneck pace, as if his life depended on it. 'Selfish' is an apt description because when a true goal scorer gets a chance to shoot he doesn't think twice about passing to a teammate. And a true hard-nose defender doesn't think twice about backing away from a tackle. The ball is the focus, tunnelvision.
Similarly, you see this in nature. If you watch a documentary about a lion you see it struggle to find food. The film crew follows it for weeks, and edits the story so that it has an ark. The lion tries over and again but the prey escapes. You can see the abject failure, the sinking despair. Will it survive?
Then one day it catches prey in its teeth and doesn't let go. It drags the animal away, bones crunch. Nothing will stop its feast. It's voracious. That is appetite.
One is the game of sport, the other the game of life. In the game of life survival is the goal. But sports are a metaphor for life. In sports, in order to survive you have to win.
That prey could have gone to another lion. Or to an alligator or a pack of hyenas. It could have been their lunch instead.
So ask yourself, "who's trying to eat my lunch?" Someone is. He or she has a bigger appetite on any given day.
And "who's lunch am I trying to eat?" Because you are eating someone's whether you know it or not.
There's a balance between humility and aggression. Sometimes you demur, but sometimes you have to go all in.