When you run a marathon, you don’t keep looking over your shoulder. You push forward.
I was at a recent event where one of the speakers was talking about watching their competition.
OK, sure – competition means you are in a space that is in demand and competition, competitiveness, is usually a good thing to continue to innovate and deliver value.
Still, I think this obsession of watching the competition is overrated. And I got into a bit of a twitter fight with others at the event. One person said that you’re supposed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
To which I replied, are your competition really your enemies?
There’s Enough To Go Around
Competition shouldn’t be that way. If you’re like me, you live in a world with an abundance mentality. I wouldn’t want to work on every infographic in the world for instance. I’d go out of business and be overwhelmed in a single day.
Here’s what you should think about in the world of competition: you are really competing against yourself.
Lots of people look to me as being a thought leader and I’m this really smart person. Some people feel really good about themselves when they get that kind of feedback from people.
Making The Most Of Your Abilities
Here’s what I think about – I’ve been given these great G-d given skills and abilities. It’s silly to take so much credit for any of this – that’s like a hummingbird taking credit for being able to flap its wings so quickly.
The next time you fall into the thought pattern about worrying about competition, worry about this instead: are you living to the best of your ability? What if someone else had all of the skills and challenges – would they do a better job than you?