Do You Compare Yourself To Others? Or Compare Your Achievements?

How do you stack up against other people?

Do you look at yourself and compare you with others?  Or do you look at your achievements and compare those with others?

It makes a big difference.

We are all inherently different.  Different skills. Different life experience. Different physiology. Different makeup.  Because of that our uniqueness makes it impossible for us to be all the same.  A short, chubby guy isn't likely to be a successful pro-basketball player.  A person with limited inherent aptitude for math is unlikely to be an actuary or a doctorate in physics.  When we look and compare ourselves and our innate abilities to others, we can set ourselves up for disappointment.  I am a physician and have been successful in that area, but there are countless other areas where I simply don't stack up to others.  Event though I love music and playing music, when I look at my ability, it's far inferior to many people with a lot less training than I have had.  If that's what I look at, I am doomed to be disappointed, with little chance of overcoming that disappointment.

Focus On What YOU Have Achieved

If I focus on what I have achieved, I can truly feel good.  What I have done in some areas of my life is far beyond what others have achieved in those areas.  We are all not the same, so it really doesn't matter what specific area we excel at. No, it's not about how I compare in any area to others, but it's more about the areas where I have made my personal achievements. There will always be others who are far better in countless areas of life than I could ever be.  That doesn't make me less of a person or them more of a person. It just makes us different in what we have achieved.

If I compare myself to what others have, such as money, fame, houses, cars, yachts, etc. it could be disappointing. There will always be people with more.  People with things that I would like to have but can't afford or achieve.   I could be jealous. I could be envious. I could be angry with them.  I could wish they were not successful. I could look to destroy what they have created or built. But how would that help me?  It simply doesn't.  Envy, jealousy and anger doesn't make me a better person, and in most cases it only make the chasm larger and more insurmountable between what I have and where I am in life and others. It will move the goal I seek farther away from where I am now. 

Perhaps it's better to look at my own achievements. The fruits of my labors and efforts.  Celebrate what I have accomplished in the areas of my talents.  Then build on that and achieve even more.  Rather than look at the achievements of others with disdain and anger ... it is better to use that recognized difference to motivate me to do even better. 

Use The Achievements Of Others As A Motivator

It is better to look at other's success and use that success as a model for my own goals and motivation than to view it with envy, greed and disdain. 

Motivation will get me much further ahead in life than envy, greed and disdain.

What do others have that I would like to achieve, and how will I use that to motivate myself in a positive manner?

Isn't it time to purge my inner emotion of jealousy, envy, greed and disdain?