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Compare Yourself UP

Written by: Robin Elliott

Article Overview: We all get stuck in this trap of "Negative Comparison." Here’s a way to compare yourself up to aim for and achieve the top.

Compare Yourself UP

As I get older, I get balder. I bought an electric hairclipper so that I can keep my hair short and neat; I don't like the comb-overs, dyed hair, pony tails and beards that men tend to use to compensate for and disguise balding and ageing - I find it weak and pathetic. But I digress. This morning, I grabbed the trusty electric clipper and applied it to my pudgy head. I didn't realize that the guide was of, so instead of a length setting of "4", it was "0"! I shaved a neat slice of bald right up the side of my head! Now if you think I'm an ugly swine with short hair, you should see me with none! When I finished laughing, I applied the logical interim solution: I set the shaver to "3" to reduce the contrast from "No Hair" to "Very Short Hair". Compared to the rest of my head, this slice of skin doesn't seem quite as bad.

And this is my point - we tend to compare ourselves DOWNWARD, which is very disempowering. Do you say, "I'm not as fat as my friends, so its OK"? Or, "At least we have less debt than Monica and Manny"? Do you justify your lack of success and performance, initiative and progress by comparing yourself with less successful people? This is a recipe for disaster. "Well, we're better off than when we lived in the car and ate out of dumpsters - at least now we get hand-outs from the Food Bank!" No. That's not going to make your dreams come true. Why not compare yourself with more successful people in order to motivate yourself? Sure, it's less comfortable, but it works!

We all get stuck in this trap of "Negative Comparison", a term I have just concocted. If you make ten sales a month, instead of feeling jolly because last month you made 7 sales, why not ask yourself, "What will it take for me to do better than the best salesperson in the team?" Even if the best salesman is doing 20 sales per month. Compare UP. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. The amount of money we earn is usually within 10% of the earnings of the people we spend the most time with. Why not spend more time with winners? Find someone who is even more successful than you are and learn from them. That's why I started the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum - a place to meet with and work with real Eagles. Find out more about the Forum at www.JVWisdom.com

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