There’s an old saying: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” When we’re in constant competition with others, we overlook our own progress and potential.
I used to compare myself all the time as a dancer, because it was a constant quest of being the best, because contracts were limited. Afterwards as an actress it was the same situation, roles or limited.
Now that I have been in business for many years I can see it is the same, you cannot win every competition. I can see the same with my daughters in school and in their sports, you cannot win everything, you cannot always have good points and you grow the most in life when you have those kinds of setbacks. It is important that you think about how you can make sure that setbacks are just setups for comebacks.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that talent is the only key to success. But in reality, talent is just one piece of the puzzle. Hard work, perseverance, and a relentless drive can often bridge the gap where natural skill might fall short.
I see that a lot of people, especially myself, have fallen into the trap of overthinking. We became afraid of the future because our minds always thought of all the risks and consequences.
The more experience we have the more we see certain risks and might get more risk averse, however I really believe that we need to keep that childish innocence of going out there, not comparing ourselves with others and believing that we can conquer the world.
We can plan a lot, and suddenly things don’t go as planned.
We think that we can guarantee success, but in reality, we cannot. I do believe in a positive attitude and we need to know and understand the status quo before we can challenge it and challenge ourselves.
We do need to compare but we need to do it in a different way, a way that doesn't harm that positive attitude.
Of course if you do not have any talent and you do not find any joy in your job, your hobby or anything you put a lot of effort in, it will not work.
It can be frustrating to see talented people getting away with less effort than yourself, but I do believe that hard work will pay off eventually.
The more you focus on that, the more likely you are to succeed.
