Other people’s success is nothing more than what it says it is: the success of someone who is not you.
It’s not your success, neither it is your failure. It’s not a missed opportunity and it is not less opportunities. It’s not your merit, it’s not your fault, it’s not your reward, it’s not your punishment.
It’s nothing personal.
Cherish other people’s success as vividly as you cherish your own.
The two go hand in hand.
If you are really good at something, there’s no reason to make others feel bad for not being at your same level.
Lift them up instead, or at the very least show them a new way to think, to act, to relate, to commit.
You’ll make your good worth it.
We are bad at estimating and predicting. Our gut feeling is nothing more than a feeling. We have opinions and ideas that are, for the most part, pretty average. In almost every situation, there is at least someone else who is more prepared, more qualified, more worthy than we are. When we think we are giving advice, we are actually mostly telling others to do what we have not found the courage to do ourselves. We are different and unique, yet not necessarily better, more prepared, or smarter.
When we remain grounded, it is much easier to appreciate ourselves and others.
There are two different mindsets with which you can approach a request for help.
One defaults to figuring out how the act of helping does impact one’s own routine.
Does it mean I will have to wake up earlier? Does it mean I will have to postpone my planned holiday? Does it mean I will have to renounce a relaxing evening watching my favourite TV series?
The other defaults to caring about how the act of helping does impact the other person’s life.
The two mindsets often have very similar outcomes. Because when somebody asks for help, people in general tend to give help.
The difference though is in how you feel about helping – and whether or not you will seek to help more in the future – and in how the other person feels about you helping – and whether or not they will seek help more freely in the future.
It is a difference that matters.
When you sit down to do your work, start by deciding what is the #1 thing you want to get done today.
Is that a presentation?
A 3,000-word blog post?
The new LinkedIn campaign?
The quarterly report for the next board meeting?
Some estimates for next year?
A meaningful piece of a bigger project?
Whatever it is, start the day by picking the #1 thing, the one that will make that day a success. Take regular breaks as you go about it, but don’t stop your concentration by jumping to other stuff before you have that completed.
That’s what will give a real, tangible, and consistent sense of progress.
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