Do you feel like you need to compete with
others? Such competitions invariably lead to invalid conclusions. Comparing
yourself with others is a case of apples and oranges.
Imagine you’re a high school basketball
player. You’re 5’6” and have never played basketball before. Your teammate is
6’6”, has played basketball year-round for 8 years, and his dad plays in the
NBA.
Can you really say anything about yourself
based upon a comparison with this person?
No one is exactly like you or has exactly the same
background. All comparisons with others are
false on some level. But competing with yourself brings you all the benefits –
and more – that you hope to receive by competing with others.
Use
these strategies to compete with yourself and achieve more:
1.
Establish a starting point. Every
competition has a starting point. If your goal is to lose weight, weigh
yourself. If you want to increase your income, determine your current income.
2.
Determine the behaviors needed to see improvement. Do you need to eat more vegetables and join a gym or cold-call 10
people each week? Make a list of the behaviors that will help. Then ruthlessly
put them in order from most effective to least.
·
Focus on the behaviors that
will return the greatest rewards.
3.
Measure your compliance with those new behaviors. These measurements let you know how well you’re sticking to the
path. If you’re on the right path, your status will move in a positive
direction.
4.
Enjoy your success. Losing three pounds
or earning an extra $100 is reason to celebrate. It doesn’t matter if your
friend is at the perfect bodyweight or already earns $1 million per year. You
have every right to be ecstatic with your progress.
·
You’ll also notice that you don’t
need anyone else to notice. When you compete with others, this isn’t true.
·
You’re competing with the
person you used to be. You have all the control. It doesn’t matter what anyone
else is doing.
5.
Focus on becoming the best possible version of yourself. This is also under your control and doesn’t require competing with
anyone else. Whom do you want to become? What will your life stand for? Make a
decision and move toward that goal.
6.
Competing with yourself is filled with success. Can you do better this week than you did last week? Of course you
can. You won’t always be successful, but you can be successful more often than
not. All those smaller successes are cumulative. You can end up in a spectacular
place without ever doing anything spectacular.
7.
Constantly testing yourself builds focus. You won’t be concerned with others, what they’re doing, or how you
stack up. You learn to keep your attention on your own actions and progress.
Everything else is just a distraction.
·
By not competing with others,
you’ll feel less need to make decisions based on the opinions of others. Part
of the reason people feel the need to compete with others is the desire to
appear impressive.
8.
You learn about yourself. Walking the
path of constant improvement is the best way to learn about yourself. You’ll
quickly learn your preferences, strengths, and weaknesses.
9.
You take control over your life. You can
make progress and feel good about yourself anytime you please.
10. You win!
--> Competing against yourself might sound easy, but it also requires courage. After the first several months, additional progress becomes more challenging. You’ll hit a wall and have to dig deeper to realize new progress. After changing the easy things, you’ll eventually be required to tackle more challenging issues. Competing with yourself is exciting and challenging.
Cheers to your passion, purpose and freedom,
Cielo Villa
Click here to generate a full-time income from home working part-time.
http://cielovillalimitlesslifestyle.com
