I’m all for mantras that give you the right mindset to achieve your goals, but I wonder whether it’s necessary or healthy to compare oneself to others.
Also, to what do you attribute the successes of those dumber people? Pure hard work?
Also, to what do you attribute the successes of those dumber people? Pure hard work?
For example, I am morbidly obese, 100+ lbs overweight. The data are very clear: that is extremely unhealthy. If I lived without comparing myself to other people, I would think it’s just fine, because eating right for me is insanely difficult and causes me to jones for food for hours at a time (e.g. eating at 6pm, getting hungry again at 8pm, and wanting food desperately until I finally get to sleep at 5:30 am is a normal day for me). Eating junk makes me feel integrated and whole—every time. Eating the right amount of calories is agony. Exercising makes me feel horrible.
Another example: my family wrecked their lives with drug consumption and nearly wrecked mine with terrible handling of relationships. But when I got away I learned by comparing my upbringing with others that those patterns were damaging, and that I didn’t have to visit that upon my own kids.
Comparisons like this are necessary for me calibrate my systems and actions.
Why do people dumber than I am sometimes do better? I never worried about that. I just figured that by working hard and using common sense I could usually replicate their success.