Throughout high school, I had a tendency to try to be better than those around me rather than trying to better myself. That same philosophy held true as I began my first year of college.
In high school, I did not care much what I learned, as long as I got an A, and did not push myself to keep getting better at tennis, as long as I was where I wanted to be in comparison to those around me.
Sure, some will argue that this is still a great way to get motivated. Unfortunately, it also is a great way to get down on yourself. God has given each of us strengths and weaknesses, not all of us are meant to be star athletes and not all of us are meant to be the next engineer. Comparing yourself to the athleticism of a top-ranked athlete or comparing your grades to genius, will often lead to disappointment in yourself.
It is OK to not be the best at something. It is OK to fail as long as you keep going.
Life is not meant to be lived only to beat your rival, but rather to learn from others, to push yourself, to be happy with your own accomplishments, and to ultimately grow as a person.
Those who live just to be better than those around them will never be satisfied with who they are. For instance, somebody who just graduated top of their class at Harvard because their goal was to beat those around them will no sooner give their valedictorian speech than realize that there are people in their field that have been working for many years that are better at it than they are currently.
It is a hard life to live, never being content with one's own abilities, and not living to better oneself but aiming at crushing those who pose a threat.
The problem with not being content with yourself is that you are aiming to gain the abilities that those around you are succeeding with, rather than focusing on the talents that God has given you that will allow you to succeed in a unique way and bring something new to the table.
Your own abilities, thoughts and ideas are unique to you, nobody else can be you.
This is what sparks businesses to have their employees work in teams so that everybody can bring their unique talents and together they are able to make something that, separately, they would not be able to do. But teams, too will not work if each member’s goal is to be better and come up with better ideas than the one next to them. They work by collaboration, by each member accepting their own strengths and weaknesses and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the rest of the team.
So, readers, strive to be better than you were yesterday, to be happy with who you are, and to accept that there will be somebody better, but that nobody will ever be you.
