We all know that Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive, and he has been for quite a while. Why then, does he still race? Is it just to maintain his number one position? No, it’s because when he’s on track, he wants to be better than his own last performance.   If there’s one leaf we need to take out of this example is that our greatest competitors are ourselves, and not an external somebody.

Often, we compare ourselves to our friends, neighbours, relatives…the list is endless. The negativity and self-doubt accumulated in the process too is detrimental to our wellbeing and success. One thing that this kind of competition breeds is comparison and jealousy and none of us want to walk down those roads. Jealousy makes us feel smaller and less capable than we actually are. The flipside to comparing ourselves with others is that it distances us greater from our own goals, and we focus on the other person’s goals-goals that are not even ours to begin with.

What are some ways where we can turn our gaze inward and focus on becoming the best versions of our self each day?

  • Writing down goals: Writing down our goals is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with our inner purpose and see where we’d like to be in a given time frame. Research has shown that this dramatically increases our chances of achieving them.
  • Next, track the journey: This would give us a sense of how far along we are in our journey towards improving ourselves or achieving our targets.
  • And finally, devise a plan for improvement: Not all plans are perfect, so this stage involves taking a stock of the loopholes and covering them. This kind of preparation helps avoid potential setbacks and gives us various alternatives.

‘It’s not about being better than someone else; it’s about being better than you were yesterday!’