Life is constant. People are moving. Dreams are being born and killed, daily. With all the craziness going on and billions of people chasing what seems to be limited spots, one can get down on themselves. No matter how difficult success is in life, it is the most visible attribute of a person in the world. Seeing it as you are chasing it is difficult. The people that achieve success are eating at the same places you are, driving the same roads, and was chasing the same thing. What are you doing wrong? What is the secret? How did that person get to a point in their journey where they seem to be living the dreams of you both? I get it. The truth is they are not that far ahead.
When you see a person seemingly ahead of you in a journey, know that they are not light years ahead. If you are an up-and-coming musician, you are one hit away from surpassing the career of 99% of anyone who has ever recorded a song. You have to keep moving forward. If you are an athlete, understand within 5 years a high school senior can go from a broke kid to signing multiple 9 figure deals(playing and sponsorship). Is an actor with 10 years experience doing theater, background for movies, and multiple commercials that much further ahead than a fresh face who lands a feature role on a network series? Is that ahead at all? Whoever is further along, they are not that far ahead. We tend to look at others attempting to compare where we are in our journey, but as we can see it is hard to tell. Fortunes can change in an instant. We can have it figured out one day that we are behind. The next day we catch a break that propels us past people we thought were killing it. Just work. We should keep our eyes open for opportunities and stop attempting to compare and contrast our race with another. It is not a straight line.
This stance goes both ways. When we do get our break, we should work even harder. Yesterday, no one knew us. Tomorrow can feel very similar if we tamper with the amount of pressure and focus we’ve applied to get there. If we can succeed out of seemingly nowhere, there are millions more that can do the same. Both the aspiring and successful groups believe the gap is larger than it is in reality. We must approach our pursuit and maintenance of success with the same intensity. That drive will take us to another level of success and prevent the dreaded fall back to where we were. It is natural to look at others and wonder if you are making mistakes on your side, but don’t let that thought turn into a mindset. It can be crippling. You don’t know what the case was for that person. Even if you learn what the case was for them, their experience is not transferable.
In closing, we are in a race that is more like a maze than a track. Barriers can pop up. New doors can be added by someone who isn’t in your race, but that area of the maze was used by them on their journey and benefited you. Don’t think too much about the race. Just move. Success is everywhere. It is everywhere because it is difficult to hide. We attempt to hide failure and are successful most of the time, but have you ever tried to hide success? Good luck with that. Run your race. It is a one-of-one. Enjoy it.
Food for Thought…You do the Dishes.
