We live in a world where we are constantly comparing one thing to the other. This phone compared to that phone. This car compared to that car. This house compared to that house. These material things are without a doubt, superficial, but when we start comparing ourselves, it gets a lot deeper and more personal. No one wants to be seen as less than someone else, especially if the other person is a peer. We want to feel like we are “winning” and we are ahead of the crowd. Or at least ahead of our own little crowd. But there is a big problem here…
The Big Problem
We are all unique. We have our own special gifts and some have opportunities that others may never have. These opportunities could be because of money, “right place right time”, or due to hard work. Since there are so many variables and differences between us, comparing yourself to someone else is like comparing apples to oranges. Sure they are both round and a fruit, but the make up is all different, just like us. The big problem here is that we tend to compare ourselves to our group of friends or people we see at our same level and judge how well we are doing based upon where we are relative to them. This may seem to make sense, but it surely doesn’t. We need to set a new goal.
A New Goal
We need to move from our goal of being better than others and move towards being a better version of who we were yesterday. That is how you can truly see progress. You can’t measure your progress by looking at how someone else is doing. You can only measure your progress by looking at yourself yesterday and seeing if you are improving or moving backwards. It doesn’t matter if your friend just made a boat load of money and you didn’t. Did you make progress on your path to making more money? It doesn’t matter if your friend has more friends than you. If you are trying to make more friends, have you made some improvements since yesterday? That is the goal…be a better version of you than you were yesterday.
Final Thoughts:
We have all heard the quote, “What gets measured gets improved.” And this is true, but you have to be measuring the right thing. You can’t determine your progress by someone else’s progress. Sure, if you want similar results that another person is getting, you can copy what they are doing and improve your tactics. But if you want to see if you are progressing, then you have to compare yourself to the person you were the day before. This is what needs to be measured, not how someone else is doing. If you can keep this in mind, and measure your progress, you will see movement in the right direction. You will know what you need to change to improve. You will have the right focus.
It’s hard to get to where you want to go if you are too busy focusing on the wrong thing. Focus on yourself and watch yourself soar!!!