The Principle: Learn from your competitors, but don’t become obsessed with them. Their path is not your path. Build the business you want to build, serve your customers your way, and measure yourself against the goals that matter to you. You don’t have to beat everyone else. You have to make your business better than it was yesterday. Don’t waste energy trying to beat someone else at their game.
Run your race.
The Hard Truth
You can’t win your race running someone else’s.
Executive insights đź‘Ą Let me tell you how that played out in my company.
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the Rules matter.
đź“– the book behind the Rule
Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare—poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, David transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside Magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
In Can’t Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us only tap into 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this the 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential. https://davidgoggins.com/
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
— David Goggins
Your competitor’s sales, their expansion, new product, or new office doesn’t tell you what your business needs to do. Comparison sidetracks you from your strategy. Stop looking sideways and start looking at your own scoreboard. Know what winning means for your business, then go build it. Run your race.
🎓 MASTER Rule No. 43 —Run your race.
- When to Apply | Red Flags
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- The Right Track | Green Flags
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- Worth Watching
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October 2026
This Master Class is in development.
Help us build each of the 50 Master Classes, by adding your insights and sharing your entrepreneurial stories.
Class begins Monday, January 4, 2027, with each Rule being built out as we go. Each will contain the study sections listed above and will continue to evolve through your contributions. As business leaders continue to challenge these ideas, the Institute becomes more and more valuable, not because it’s finished, but because it never will be.