By the mind-90s, everyone agreed: Michael Jordan was just too damn good at basketball for the rest of the NBA.

I mean, he had already proven to be the most athletic guy. His jumpshot was improving, his ball handling was always sound, and now that his battle-tested teammates were showing up in all the big games, the Chicago Bulls were winning championships. Winning titles: the one thing MJ’s detractors could always use against him.

What they, and MJ’s fans, didn’t know was, Michael Jordan was more than just good at basketball.

He was a competitive maniac.

Michael, as more and more stories came out to prove, had an edge that went beyond his basketball skills. HE was wildly competitive at damn near everything. Who’s bag would come out of the plane first? Who was the first player dressed and on the practice floor? Which right-handed players could dunk with their left hands? Who won the most money in cards? Michael wanted to win at everything he did; basketball just happened to be his main job. And when he couldn’t find people to challenge him, as the NBA couldn’t seem to send a worthy opponent his way, Michael made up opponents in his mind.

Whether they were real or imaginary, MJ took everything throw at him and made a competition out of it. A reporter wrote a somewhat-negative story about the Bulls? An opposing player celebrated a bit too hard after scoring a basket? A Bulls teammate blocked Michael’s shot in practice? All good enough reasons to win — again. Michael Jordan used anything and everything he could to get in his Zone.

And he was damn good at it.

Today’s show is about how you can take all the energy around you, whether you created it or it was already there, and make it work to your advantage.