I have always liked comparsions between atheletics and business. In general, I think people find it difficult to internalize these sorts of lessons. I think the difficulty comes from the difference in time frames. In atheletics, you get the results in about 10 seconds for 100m dash and might wait 3 or 4 days if you are playing a cricket match. In business, the short view is 30 days and in the long view, the game is played over years.
The competition takes place daily though. People don’t wait until the new quarter to start streamlining a process. People don’t wait until the new year to think about what the next product is going to be. This stuff takes place everyday.
You need to look at what you did to take on the competition today.