Don’t believe the hype💀Ego is the enemy. When you start getting to an impressive level with your physique, you start getting attention. Maybe some BIG hype from thousands of people if you have a social media following. And you start getting told by others that you “should” win or that you maybe “deserve” a placing because of how amazing you look. Guess what? No one deserves a placing. No matter how many followers you have, no matter what sponsors you have, who your coach is or how much they believe in you, how hard you work or how good you look, you aren’t entitled to anything until you show up with exactly what the judges want that day in relation to others. This is hard because of how important it is to have a support system who believes in you in this sport. You just have to be careful with how you take in that support. The best in the world don’t worry about what others are saying about them or to them. They keep the circle of people whose opinion they care about small and they pick those people carefully. They put ego aside because they know it leads nowhere to allow the hype to fill them with hope or expectation. They thrive in silence just as much as they could thrive under the pressure of a crowd. It’s an underrated skill for anyone trying to excel in this sport—not letting the loudness of your hype squad affect your work or your reaction to winning but also to failure. “Silence is the ability to deliberately keep yourself out of the conversation and subsist without its validation. Silence is the respite of the confident and the strong.” —Ryan Holiday Want to do better as an athlete? Check yourself frequently and ask yourself: am I listening to the right people when it comes to how good I am? 📸 @papibsnappin 📍 @bodyshopfitnessllc