Member-only story
Self
The Right Kind of Competition
The only person you should be competing with is yourself is just nonsense.
Yes, we need to learn and grow but, ignoring the world doesn’t help. If you’re living in a vacuum and thinking that you’re the only one that matters, then think again.
Imagine a runner. Sure, her aim is to beat her own time. But, it’s not just about that, is it? It’s also about beating other runners.
Basically, telling you not compete with others is just a nice thing to say. It’s a way to make you feel that you haven’t failed. I get it, failure causes a negative feedback loop, and it feels like you’re constantly in distress.
But, the world is all about competing. Whether it’s for a more money, status, or a better job. And the only way to get anywhere is to compete.
The real question is who are you competing with?
Sprinters and marathoners have very different goals. They’re both runners but, the way they run and even their training is very different.
For the longest time, I aspired to becoming someone who I really didn’t want to be. It was driven by people who I thought were better than me. But, in reality, their life was nothing like mine, and neither were their sense of values.
