You know I like to get inspiration wherever it appears…and recently I found this quote (I found it online – who knows who said it) –
A flower does not think of competing
with the flower next to it.
It just blooms.
It’s a good lesson…and one we could all stand to learn and review every day. We often compare ourselves to other people…and often for no reason, or worse, for the wrong reasons. Here are four reasons why you should just knock it off…and use that energy for something else – like practicing so you can be a good as you can be!
- Often you are wrong – you are not comparing yourself to that other person, but rather to what you think that person is. You are working on an illusion and there’s no way you can compare to something that doesn’t exist!
- You’re missing out. When you are comparing yourself to others, you may be so worried that they’ll find out that you think you’re not as good as they are. And that’s when you miss out, that you’re not open to learning from them. Whether they are more experienced than you (or whatever it is that makes you think they are better than you) or just appear more confident – just think about what you could learn from them if you were open to it.
- You’re missing out of the fun of playing if you spend all your time and energy worrying.
- Eleanor Roosevelt may have said it best, “you wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
If you need objective quality evidence – record yourself each year. At about the same time each year, record what you’ve been working (I like the holidays – you’re likely to be playing the same music each year and then you can really hear you far you have come!).
The person you can compare yourself to successfully is – you. Look at how far you have come.