We know we shouldn’t do it.
We’ve talked about how to stop doing it.
But every now and then, we get that inkling feeling in the back of our mind. We go to squash it, but the mental thorn remains ever buried so deeply.
How do we remove it to gain real peace of mind when comparing ourselves to others?
Realize that the ONLY thing ANYONE, ANYONE IN THE FREAKING WORLD CAN DO, is to do the best they can with what they have right now.
That’s it.
Sure, some people have a lot to work with right now. Maybe because they built it. Maybe because they were given it. Maybe because they were lucky. Maybe because they were born with it.
And yes, it makes everything a lot easier.
But we can’t compare ourselves with another in that respect. Too many factors involved in that equation that are out of our control.
So the only other variable left is doing our very best.
THAT, we can compare ourselves to others with. And it’s ironically in that respect, that we can gain real peace of mind.
If you DON’T do your best, it’s SO easy to get destroyed by the comparison game.
BUT, do the best you can right now with what you’ve currently got, realizing it’s the only thing you can do, that ANYONE can do, nobody is better than you because you’re at the top. That’s as how high anyone can get.
That’s the only thing in your control. You can’t control necessarily what you’ve got right now. Yes, you can assume responsibility for it, but you can’t fully control it. More on that aspect later.
Now an important thing to note here is that what you have right now – it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what you’ll have tomorrow.
More often than not, if you do your best, what you have to work with will INCREASE as well.
If you do your very best in building your network, you’ll have great wells to draw from when the time is right. If you do your very best to read and gain knowledge, you’ll have ideas. If you do your very best in managing your finances, you’ll have money. If you did your best at the gym, in your diet, you’ll be healthy – all of which prepares you for a big opportunity.
And if you KEEP doing your very best, and as a result, what you’ve got to work with increases, you begin to gain HUGE leverage.
Let’s use simple math.
Let’s say we use a scale of 1-10 to describe both our efforts to do our very best along with what we currently have to work with, 1 being the worst, 10 being the best.
Let’s say you don’t have much to work with now, and what I mean by that includes a whole lot – your network, money, ideas, knowledge, possessions, etc., so let’s give that a 2.
BUT, you do the very best you can, so let’s say a 10.
10 * 2 = 20.
You’re at a level 20.
Now let’s say as time goes on what you have to work with increases in value because you’ve been doing your very best so far. It’s up to a 5. You have more quality contacts, you’ve saved quite a bit, you’ve gained knowledge in your field, you managed to get better equipment to help you, etc.
AND you keep up doing your very best because it’s habit.
10 * 5 = 50.
You’re at level 50.
Now let’s say there’s another person who was given pretty much everything.
A 10.
But he doesn’t do his very best. Just lazy, mediocre at best.
Let’s say a 4.
What does that give him?
A level 40.
Now I know, using level scores here, we automatically create this hierarchy of comparison but that’s not my intent. Remember, what you have to work with – out of your control.
Some people are born with talents in performing musical instruments, singing, crunching numbers, analyzing, etc.
But doing your very best? Totally within your control and can result in HUGE leverage for you as we’ve just seen.
The level calculation here was to underscore just how important doing our very best is. It’s a factor that we CAN control, and ramp up to full power and in doing so, can result in HUGE increase not only in what we have to work with, but overall leverage as well.
When you truly internalize this, that it’s not what you have NOW to work with that you use to compare yourselves to others with, but how much effort you put into doing the best you can with what you have now, and that’s as high as you can go.
That’s as high as anybody can go.
Should you find yourself consistently not doing your best, it’s easy to play the comparison game because you see what you might have been, if you’d had consistently done your best.
But the MOMENT you start consistently doing your best, you’re there. Peace of mind. Nobody can compare because you’re doing the only highest thing anybody can really ask of themselves – to do to the best they can with what they’ve got right now.
Nothing more.
