Compete Against Yourself
How should we measure our improvement?
Comparing ourselves to others: we all do it at some point. But is it helpful, or a waste of time?
If you are tracking your progress in something, for example, the time it takes you to run one mile, or your GPA in school, you might think it’s a good idea to compare your results to other people. While this is quick and convenient to do, it can be harmful and disillusioning. Why? Because everyone is different from you.
Why should you compare yourself to someone born with completely different genes, in a totally different situation and environment, and with a drastically different brain? Getting A+ grade in a class might require a whole lot of more effort for you, comparatively to someone with an entire different set of talent and skills. Thus, it is not fair to compare the class results between you and your classmates.
Instead of always comparing yourself to others, try comparing yourself to the past version of yourself. Compare yourself today to who you were a year ago, a month ago, or yesterday. Strive to improve a tiny bit each day, and large amount over time.
This is a more realistic form of measurement, because your past self has much more in common with you than a bunch of random people.
Take for example, Usain Bolt or Jeff Bezos. If you always compared yourself to them, and set goals in accordance to their baseline, how would you ever accomplish your goal? Is running the fastest race time ever a realistic outcome? You cannot control certain factors allowing you to sprint over 27 MPH. Instead, devote your attention to controlling the controllable: DOING YOUR BEST.
Rethink your model of success: Instead of striving to be in the top 10% of your class’s GPA, or to be within the top 10% largest yearly incomes of Americans, strive to try your absolute hardest at what you are doing. The outcome is not always in your control, but your effort is. So, simply do the best that you can, and don’t get upset over anything else in which you cannot control. Imagine you do absolutely everything you can to improve your basketball skills, but still don’t make the varsity team. Know that while you may not have been enough to meet the standards of society, you met your personal standard. Face it: some aspects of success are up to luck and talent. In this way, you can’t always control how the cookie crumbles; focus your energy on what is in your control.
Create a competition: against YOURSELF
Looking at the paths of other people will cloud your judgement. Rather, cherish self-growth, learning, and marginal improvement.
Become smarter, stronger, more disciplined, wiser, kinder, harder working, and overall a better person than your past self. Even if you improve by just 0.1% in a single aspect of your life every day, this will compound and create massive improvement overtime.
First, identify what you would like to improve in. This could take the form of running, weight-lifting, knowledge, or anything that you personally value.
Then, track your own personal progress. For example, if I want to improve my productivity, I will measure the amount of minutes I spend within deep work sessions each day. Setting a goal may be helpful, but the main focuses should be day-by-day improvement and maximum effort.
“I am not in competition with anyone but myself. My goal is to improve myself continuously.” -Bill Gates
Get After It
In the end, competing against yourself rather than others is not only more realistic, it will help you improve faster and make you more fulfilled.
Assess your success by your amount of improvement, rather than arbitrary societal expectations.
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