The Ryan Leak Podcast - Stop Fighting the Wrong Competitor

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

We spend a lot of energy trying to keep up with competitors who aren't even thinking about us. We scroll through someone's highlight reel and measure it against our behind-the-scenes. We compare our chapter 3 to their chapter 20. And every time we do it, we lose. Not because we're behind, but because we're running in the wrong race entirely.In this episode, Ryan shares the questions that actually measure progress. Are you stronger than you were last year? Wiser? More disciplined? Have your relationships gotten better? If the answer is yes, you're winning, even when it doesn't look like winning on Instagram.The greatest athletes in history weren't obsessed with the person in the lane next to them. They were obsessed with their own time, their own form, their own preparation. That's the competition worth showing up for.

What's going on, my friends? Welcome to the Ryan League podcast where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. I believe that today's episode is truly going at how you to your life. Today's episode is called Stop Fighting the Wrong Competitor. Stop fighting the wrong competitor. What you need to know right now is that you are in a fight right now. whether you realize it or not you've got a competitor but i believe the problem is it's not who we think it is it's not the person who got the promotion over you it's not the company across the street it's not the

influencer with more followers or the colleague who seems to have it all figured out no your biggest competitor is who you were yesterday. And I know that sounds simple, but I think one of the reasons so many of us are often frustrated with our progress is because we're competing in races. We were never supposed to enter. We live in this constant state of comparison. We scroll through somebody else's highlight reel and measure it against our problem. behind the scenes. We look at somebody else's chapter 20 while we're still in chapter three.

We can see somebody else's income, revenue, somebody else's relationship. We can look at our neighbor's house, somebody else's career on LinkedIn, look at their platform, their body, the opportunities they're getting, their success. And immediately, we start asking ourselves, am I behind? Am I behind? And what I want to ask you today is behind who? Like, that's the question I think we have to ask. Who exactly are you behind?

Because if they're not running your race, how can they possibly be ahead of you? I mean, I've caught myself doing this. I'll see someone else's success. And instead of celebrating it, I'll internalize it as commentary of my own progress. And their win starts to feel like my loss. They get an opportunity and suddenly I'm wondering why I didn't get one.

Their business grows and suddenly mine feels smaller and they accomplish something incredible. And somehow I've found a way to make their accomplishment about me. I can't tell you how many times I've found myself comparing my business to somebody else's business. who's 20 years older than me. And it's just, it's not that it's just unhealthy,

because I think it is that, but it's also very inaccurate. Someone else's success doesn't mean you're failing. Someone else's opportunity doesn't mean you have missed yours. Someone else's moment doesn't mean yours isn't coming. And I've really had to lock in on this idea. that I'm not trying to be the best. I'm trying to give my best.

And there's a big difference between those two things. Trying to be the best requires me to constantly look around, but giving my best requires me to look within. Trying to be the best ask, how do I compare to them? Giving my best ask, did I maximize what was in? me. One of those questions will exhaust you, the other one will grow you. Because the truth is, you're not running their race. You don't have their resources, their timeline, their circumstances,

their connections, their responsibilities, or their story. And they don't have yours. Comparing your life to theirs is like comparing the score of two people playing completely different games, it doesn't work. The only fair comparison is you versus the version of you that existed before today. So maybe we need some better questions. Instead of asking, am I as successful as them? We should be asking ourselves, am I stronger than I was last year? Am I wiser? Am I healthier? Am I more disciplined? Am I more patient? Am I a better spouse? a better parent, a better friend. Do I handle pressure better?

Do I recover from failure faster? Am I keeping promises to myself that I used to break? Am I growing? Because if the answer is yes, then you're winning. Even if it doesn't look like winning on Instagram, that's what we can forget. Progress isn't always. photogenic. Sometimes winning looks like getting up when the old you would have quit. Sometimes it's having

the conversation the old you would have avoided. Sometimes it's saying no to something the old you would have said yes to just because you wanted everybody to like you. Sometimes winning is apologizing faster, going to bed earlier, putting the phone down and being more present with your family. Nobody is going to give you a trophy. for most of that. But your life will know the difference. In comparison, doesn't show up in your career. It shows up in how you see yourself. I can't tell you how many times I have watched very good-looking people

convince themselves. They're not good-looking because they walked into a room with somebody else who's good-looking. Now you're comparing your body to their body. your hair to their hair, your face to their face, your teeth, your teeth. What are we talking about right now? What a miserable way to live. Your goal shouldn't be to have their body. Your goal should be to become the healthiest version of you. Take care of what you've been given. Get stronger, get healthier, feel better, but don't let somebody else's genetics become the measuring stick for your self-worth. A friend of mine says it like this. He says envy will make you a fan of their failure and sad for their success.

And I just think that's such a powerful way to put it. Because that's what comparison can eventually do to each and every one of us. We'll find ourselves secretly relieved when something goes wrong for them and strangely bothered when something goes right. And that's when you know comparison has gone too far. You don't need them to become less for you to become more. Their beauty doesn't take away from yours. Their success doesn't take away from yours. Their life doesn't have to get worse for yours to get better. I watch leaders exhaust themselves,

trying to keep up with competitors who aren't even thinking about them. Think about how crazy that is. You're losing sleep over somebody who is sleeping just fine. You're studying their moves, watching their numbers, and checking their progress, wondering what they're doing next. And meanwhile, you're neglecting the one thing that would actually move the needle, which is your own growth. Think about great athletes. Of course, they study the competition. Of course, they want to win.

But elite performers understand something much deeper. You can't control the person in the lane next to you. You can control your preparation. You can control your discipline. You can control your effort. You can control whether today's version of you is more prepared than yesterday's version. That's the race. You versus you.

And I think when you really embrace that, something else happens. You become much better at celebrating other people. Because when I'm competing with you, your win threatens me. But when I'm competing with me, your win can inspire me. That's a completely different way to live. I can celebrate you because you aren't taking anything away from me. I can learn from you without needing to become you.

I can admire what you've built without diminishing what I'm building. Your success can become evidence of what's possible instead of evidence that I'm behind. There's just so much freedom that comes with realizing. I don't have to beat you. I don't have to have more followers than you. I don't have to make more money than you. I don't have to get there before you. I don't have to be invited into every room you're invited into. I don't need your life in order to feel good about my own. I just need to be able to look at my own life. And no, I'm not wasting what I've been given. So here's my challenge. for you this week. Pick one area of your life and ask yourself one simple question.

What would beating yesterday look like? Just yesterday. Not dominating your industry, not becoming number one, not proving somebody wrong, just beating yesterday. Maybe it's 20 more minutes of focused work. Maybe it's one workout. Maybe it's making the phone call you've been putting off. Maybe it's reading 10 pages. Maybe it's being fully present at dinner. Maybe it's keeping one promise you made to yourself. Make the competition small enough to win today. Because here is what happens when you do that consistently. You beat yesterday today. And then then you wake up tomorrow and you try to beat today. And then you do it again and again. And again. and again. And eventually you wake up and you realize you've become someone you once only

hopes you could be. That's how growth usually happens. It's rarely one giant leap. It's a thousand small decisions that don't look impressive in the moment, but become impressive when you stack them together. You don't have to become the best version of yourself overnight. You just have to keep becoming a better version of yourself over time. So my friend, stop looking sideways. Stop measuring your progress against someone else's metrics. Stop fighting a competitor who was never in your race to begin with. Stop asking whether you're ahead of them and start asking whether you're ahead of you.

Are you growing? Are you learning? Are you showing up differently? Are you giving today what yesterday's version of you couldn't give? Because the race you're in is you versus you. And that's a race you can actually win. Not by being better than everyone else, but by being better than the version of yourself that woke up yesterday.

Don't try to be the best. Give your best. And wake up tomorrow and see if you can beat it. That's the competition worth showing up for. Our friends, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan League podcast. If today's episode had a value to your life, I would just encourage you to share it with a friend. And as always, it would be greatly appreciated it.

If you rate, review, and subscribe, your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Hey, my friend, have a phenomenal week.