…not to who someone else is today.

Living in big cities and the plenitude of Internet connection, we are constantly exposed to seeing people who are better than us in one way or another. 

This wakes up the critical voice in our heads that tells you how bad you are. 

It might start telling you that you should give up whatever you are doing because there are plenty of those who do things better than you. 

If you hear this voice often and it undermines all that you do and even makes you question your life, you should in turn question the voice’s legitimacy. Perhaps, it is nothing more than a chatterbox.

The critical voice is meant to condemn mediocre efforts, not to rid you of desire to act. It is its purpose because a job done badly can lead to catastrophes. 

“Any idiot can choose a frame of mind where nothing matters. Talking yourself into irrelevance is not a profound critique, it is a cheap trick of rational mind.”

Remember, that success is not a singular thing, as is not failure. The older you become the more irrelevant it is to compare yourself to others, due to increasing uniqueness of your circumstances and growing complexity of your life. 

Called upon properly, the internal critic will suggest something to set in order, which you could set in order, which you would set in order—voluntarily, without resentment, with pleasure even.

Ask yourself: is there one thing that exists in disarray in your life or your situation that you could, and would, set straight? Could you, and would you, fix that one thing that announces itself humbly in need of repair? Could you do it now? 

Do that and do not forget, only compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. 

Inspired by: 12 Rules For Life by J.B. Peterson.

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