At the time of writing this piece, Super Bowl LVI(56) was live. Two teams worked their tails off and went through the ups, downs, great fortunes, and misfortunes. The issue? We will only remember one. The winner. The champion. We recall the best because nobody remembers second place. Think of all the Olympic athletes known for winning multiple gold medals. Usain Bolt, Micheal Phelps, Alison Felix, Jessie Owens. Who has won the most silver medals? Yeah, I don’t know either. We can step away from sports or entertainment and, the same holds true. How many losers of Presidential races can you name? Who was the runner-up for “most likely to succeed” in your high school class? Who was the salutatorian in high school? (Unless it was you. Okay, it was me.) The point is nobody remembers second place. Can everyone be number one? Of course not but, you can. There is no guarantee you will be but not trying will guarantee you will not.
In the United States, we live in a culture where only first matters and people who perpetuate the same surround us. This situation has both positive and negative results. The positive is for those who thrive on competition and believe they can be the best. It pushes them to try harder. They treat it as a welcomed challenge. This challenge can give them that push they need to prevent them from coming up short or deciding that they were okay with someone who isn’t suited for the spot to have it. The negative result affects the opposite personality type. People who don’t perform well with the thought of competition are the ones negatively affected. It could be because of a lack of confidence in ourselves, our talent, or the blow trying and failing will give us.
Whatever “it” is, these thoughts rob many of us of experiencing the “true” best in a given field. How many faces of the best to do something would change if those three things didn’t prevent people from attempting to be the best they can be? It is probably safe to say they all would change. How crazy is that? Hopefully, that gets those of us who are holding ourselves back to let go and give ourselves a shot.
Nobody remembers second place holds true in a lot of situations. Although, it is a little bit of an extreme statement. The statement is meant to be motivation. Treat it as fuel. It is not a brake or stop sign. Some people were never the best. Nor were they considered as one of the best but hey are still fondly remembered. People can have a great life and career without the distinction of being the best. If the possibility of not being the best deters you from trying, we may be robbing ourselves of a great and fulfilling life as a contributor to our chosen craft. We are taking away the possibility of influencing the future “number one.” When the best are asked to name their influences they’ll always name a couple of surprises. Be the surprise. Why not be the reason for a number 1 if you can’t be it? Yes, most of us grew up with the notion that only being the best mattered. If we can’t use it as motivation, we must remember that the others matter, also. If we must live with never being number one, we must embrace pushing whoever is number one. We must embrace being an influence for the next crop of aspiring “number ones.”
In closing, nobody remembers second place. We do recollect the players. “Players” meaning those involved. No, we will not remember that a person was second best at their given craft. We will look back at their contributions. We will recall the best that they offered or shared with the world. This outcome isn’t so bad. It’s not bad at all. It is exponentially better than what the people who refused to try supplied. Be part of the game. You may be the best to do it. If not, at least you are playing and, we definitely see you.
Food for thought…You do the dishes!
