Constantly watching your competition is a big mistake. Because when your eyes are on others, you’re not paying enough attention to what you’re doing.
Come into my world and I’ll explain. Several times a week, I go to an early morning spinning class. By early, I mean that it starts at 5:45 a.m.
A surprising number of people come to the class. Some are more athletic than me, others are less. In a way, you could consider them my competition.
I’ve learned it’s not a good idea to base my performance off what other people are doing in the class. It’s not that I don’t feel competitive fires burning inside my mind but I’ve learned that I’m usually missing key pieces of information about my classmates.
One day, “Sally” is pedaling especially hard. “Wow, she’s blowing away my performance. I must be out of shape,” I think.
But it turns out that the reason why Sally is going so fast is because she has to leave the class 15 minutes early so she can take her child to school. Sally is trying to burn 60 minutes of calories in 45 minutes.
In this case, while we’re in the same room, we’re not each other’s competition.
If I look at the other side of the class, I might see “Bob,” who doesn’t seem to be going as fast and aggressively as me. It’s easy to assume that I’m better than Bob.
Once again, I’m wrong. Bob is as good as me or better but the day before he ran a half marathon. His goal for the spinning class is to loosen up his legs from the previous day. His less aggressive pace has a purpose but I wasn’t aware of it.
What should I have been doing to gauge my success in the class? On my bike, I have a clock, a speedometer, and a calorie counter. As a regular visitor to the class, I should use those tools to measure my progress. Basing my performance on my “competition” is unreliable when I don’t know all of the variables that are impacting them.
To Clear the Path of the need to watch your competition consider these quick tips:
Luck is Not Success
Sometimes you’ll do better than the other guys because of luck. In the long term, luck tends to average out among all in the marketplace. Luck may give you an edge but it’s likely temporary. Celebrate it but don’t constantly expect it.
Measure Your Success
Worry less about the other guy’s numbers than your own. Like my spinning bike, you probably have tools that can define your success. Rely on them, even if they’re not that sexy, rather than making broad assumptions about the competition.
Stay Hungry
If you’re killing your competition, don’t become complacent. Find new ways to excel and improve. It’s what your competition is doing.
If you’re behind the rest of the marketplace, consider what’s working and not working. Can you afford to keep doing the same thing, hoping for better results?
