I have long believed that the only true competition in this world is with yourself.
We live in a society where people are much too concerned with what others are doing and thinking, or might think.
Comparison with others is meaningless and only brings distress, and yet in our society we do it all the time.
“The next door neighbours have a swimming pool so we must get one,” even though we’re afraid of water and never go swimming.
“My girlfriends all have tattoos so I must get one,” even though it’s not really my thing.
“Bill has just got a promotion. Isn’t it time that I got one?”
Never mind that Bill sold his soul in the process.
The next time you look at someone else and feel envious, ask yourself how much you really know about the person.
He may be driving the expensive car you have always wanted, but is it paid for or just bought on credit?
He may have an incredibly beautiful wife, but perhaps in private they haven’t got two words to say to each other.
The thing is, everybody is different.
We all had individual experiences growing up, we all have our own agenda.
Don’t assume someone is successful because he or she is “successful” in the eyes of society.
We do not know what has been given up along the way or what is truly going on inside that person.
That is why comparisons are meaningless, and competition with others a waste of time.
It’s like comparing an apple with an orange.
On the other hand, competition with yourself will help you to develop and make each day a new beginning.
You can compare where you are now with where you were last week, last month, last year…
“I can do fifty press ups now but last year, I could only do twenty.”
“I can play a guitar reasonably well whereas a year ago, I couldn’t play at all.”
“I couldn’t do this at work, but now I can.”
You can look at concrete elements in your life and see progress.
The most important thing in this competing with yourself, though, and the main reason for the existence of this website,
is NOT TO MAKE LIFE AN ENDURANCE TEST.
Give yourself days off.
Allow yourself to have fun.
Frustrated that you can’t master that programme. Leave it and come back to it another day.
Can’t do what you wanted to do. Start again tomorrow.
The joy is in the doing, not in boasting about it the next day.
And don’t be put off if people say, as they have to me over the years:
“I don’t understand why you aren’t further ahead in your career.”
(Replace “career” with whatever applies to you!)
This is a meaningless judgement.
They do not know who you are or what you have gone through in life.
Their definition of success is almost certainly different from yours.
Sometimes the people who think they know you the best (parents, siblings, even close friends) don’t have a clue who you really are.
So do your own thing.
Run your own energy.
Leave the bleating to the others.
And see what happens.
Love
Richard
