What does this comparison do for us? The short answer is not much. We spend a good amount of our time looking at pictures and statuses of other people seeming to be living their best life. We see people on TV and on billboards and we wonder, "Why can't I be like them?"

That question itself is the answer. We are picturing ourselves as below someone else and by doing that we automatically compromise our ability to succeed. We make ourselves think that we don't have what it takes or that the people we see are "gifted." The truth is they aren't gifted, they have talent, but are not any more special than me or you. We all have talent, how we choose to use and work with it is what makes us different. You can choose to sulk about why everyone else has success and you don't, or you can begin to work towards that success.

The first step to achieve this success is to stop viewing other people as superior or even as competition. The only person that you should be trying to be better than is yourself. Some people may say that seeing other people succeed can motivate you to succeed as well. This is true, but how long will that motivation last? Once you achieve or surpass the people you were aiming to become? This type of motivation will come to an end eventually because it is an external cause. The motivation isn't coming from within you. However, when you compete with yourself, the motivation never runs out because the drive comes from inside of you.

The only thing comparisons do is hold us back and we must let it go to move forward. Yet it is a very difficult thing since it has been ingrained in us by our parents and teachers our whole lives. Everything is a process and you have to begin somewhere, so why not here, with this?