Have you ever asked yourself “Why does everyone else seem to have it figured out? Why is everyone I see happier, more successful, stress free and has more money?”
The worst part is that they all seem to do it so easily.
They’re younger than you, and less experienced.
What REALLY grinds my gears is when someone says “Yeah I was a corporate finance rep for years, decided to give marketing a go and now I run a $1M a month agency. Took me 2 years.”
And you’re like: HOW!?
How have they done this?
Why am I struggling so much, and for them, it comes so easy!?
And I’ve got one word that sums it up.
When we compare what others “have” with what we have, we jump to conclusions.
There’s a story of two lumberjacks, way out in the middle of the dense forest, and they work from 8am to 12pm every day.
Then they both take a break.
One of them heads back to his cabin for lunch and one stays out with his equipment.
After lunch, they head back to work, but the one who went back to the cabin always seems slower than his colleague.
So he asks if his friend has lunch, to which the other lumberjack says “Of course!” and by the end of the day, they’re both tired, but the cabin lumberjack seems on the verge of exhaustion.
This goes on for days.
Both seem absolutely equal right up to lunch, have lunch separately and then when they get back, the lumberjack that stays outside, seems to breeze through the afternoon.
The cabin lumberjack thinks over and over, “What’s his secret? Is it the walk back that’s tiring me? Is it what I eat? Does he have extra protein or drugs even? We go to bed at the same time, we wake up at the same time, the tree’s we cut are the same…what is he doing?”
And eventually, this becomes too much for the cabin lumberjack so he starts asking his friend if he has a different lunch or if he’s doing drugs. He’s getting more and more irate and his friend asks “What’s the matter?”
The constant comparison and competition, built up in the mind of the cabin lumberjack has turned to resentment for his once close friend. And after another exhausting afternoon, he snaps.
“I can’t believe it!? How are you so good at this?! I know I’m slower than you and older, maybe my technique isn’t as good, but you’ve just got it easier! You must be built differently. I go back to my cabin every lunchtime and try to think how you’re beating me each afternoon!?”
The outdoor lumberjack puts his axe down, stares at his friend, and asks “So when are you sharpening your axe?”
You see, we don’t see the work and toil and failure.
We also don’t see the advantages that they’re giving themselves or the path they’ve taken.
If we stopped comparing ourselves to other people and focusing so much on what they’ve got, we might be able to see what we can change a little easier.
That one word?
It’s “editing”.
You can’t sum up years and decades of life and experience into one post or email or video.
You’re seeing snapshot highlights – the best bits.
Yesterday I talked about helping 17,000 people.
I didn’t talk about the 2 books that have barely sold 500 copies between them.
Or that my blog has been losing traffic over the last few years.
I don’t talk about the 8 hours a day I spend researching the next portion of my business.
It’s like “business porn”. It’s not really like that, not in the real world.
Only people who have never done it, think that’s how it really works.
Stop comparing.
It literally does you no good.
