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Pragmatic Productivity
Comparison Is the Secret Sauce You’re Missing
Here’s why going against conventional wisdom can fuel success
I have a friend that drives me freaking nuts. He seems to be perfect in every way. He always knows what to say and do. He is ridiculously successful at what he does. And when we fly to an event together, he eats his packed veggies and hummus while I spend $34 on a burger and a beer in the airport (YOLO bitchezzz).
He obviously has his own issues (one of them being he won’t admit he has any issues), but I still let him get under my skin. And he probably has no idea that his hoity-toity-ness bugs me. I don’t want him to know it. Because he’s still my friend.
But, I realized today that the fact that I compare myself to him? It’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Comparison is only a thief if you let it be
People say that comparison is the thief of joy. Sometimes, that’s true. But sometimes, comparison can light a fire under a-double-s-s and keep you on the straight and narrow.
In psychology, there’s a thing called social comparison theory. Basically, social comparison theory says we do three different things — we look up to people and compare ourselves, we…
