It’s Not a Competition
6 September, 2924
You see or hear or read about it a lot. Probably every day. Someone who’s always doing more. Always cramming more work and and more learning and more accomplishments into their lives.
Someone who’s held up as an example of what productivity, of what work, of what a professional life is all about.
Then, somewhere inside you feel a pang. It might be a pang of envy or a pang of regret. It might be the start of a stirring. A stirring that makes you want try to play catch up. To emulate that person and to do or learn or work more. To try to out compete and out pace those around you.
When you feel that pang, when you feel that stirring there’s something you need to keep in mind: It’s not a competition.
Work, productivity, learning, exercising, travelling, alla that stuff isn’t a game of one-upmanship. Doing more doesn’t make you special. It doesn’t mark you with badges of honour or greatness. It just means that you’re doing more.
Ask yourself this question: Why do I want to do more? Is it because you actually have more to do? Is it because you really, really, really want to do more? Or is because you’re feeling left behind?
I’ve asked people about that and usually the latter has been their answer. That’s not a reason, or even an excuse, to pile more on your plate.
Instead of jumping on the productivity assembly line, ask yourself:
- How does all this additional work fit in with my goals?
- Is this extra work meaningful?
- What do I hope to achieve in the end?
Unless you can come up with a compelling reason to do more, don’t. You’ll just wind up mired in what will come to feel like an endless slog. You won’t be better off, and you’ll have less time to do what you actually want to do or enjoy doing.
If you’re gripped by the need to compete against someone who seems productive in the extreme, just remember what author Scott Berkun tweeted a bunch of years back:
I realize many (most?) famous/uber/productive people are deeply miserable. Work is all they have.
That, I think, puts it all into perspective.