COMPARISON AND ITS PITFALLS

Should Executives compare themselves?

Comparison, to me, is very relative. No two fingers are equal. No two people, even twins can be effectively compared.

I used to know a set of twins, both brothers were good at playing football with one being significantly better than the other. But life happened and the one who was not so good got into the elite league while the one who was better never got higher than the third division.

You can’t always compare because every circumstance around every situation differs. You can’t compare because different people come across different opportunities.

It gets worse when the comparison you make is negative. I remember coming home from school at the age of 9, with a result that says I was 3rd position in a class of 50! And my mom asked ‘good job but how come you didn’t lead the class coming first?’ I vividly remember responding, at my young age, that ‘mom I was better than 47 others’ because that was what mattered most. Needless to say, she wasn’t pleased with my retort! But it is true. It was a position that guided me all my life.

I vowed to look at others in a positive way as negative comparison does not work for anyone. It breeds bitterness, envy, jealousy and you never move forward.

It is okay to look at what others are doing. It is not great to compare it with what is going on in your life. There’s power in your utterances. No negativity in comparison.

If you can’t develop the art of comparison positively, then don’t bother comparing. Simply means comparison is not for you. But if you see the good in comparing, seeing the positives in others’ successes, you can make it good for yourself. Do you know, you can even call the person seen as more successful, and ask them how they came about results and learn from them.

If you are obsessed with negatively comparing, you would see everyone as an enemy and inadvertently, miss out on the opportunities to learn from them.

You know what? Give me a shout – tunde@tunde-talks.com or WhatsApp me on +447417527932. Let’s help each other through the TundeTalks Mindset Academy.