The other day, I was doing some research on the internet in an effort to promote my website and new book. As I did so, I was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer number of similar websites out there, many of them excellent, and offering an immense variety of products and services. I caught myself feeling a bit discouraged, and thinking what a long way it was to the top of this particular mountain.


This feeling lasted only for a little while. I soon recalled all the testimonials that my ezine, course and book readers have sent me, telling me how much my work has encouraged and benefited them. I realized that it is not the quantity of people helped that matters so much, but rather the quality of that help to any individual person.

Yet, that temporary feeling of discouragement led me to think about how often people can short-circuit themselves through looking at the competition, rather than keeping their eyes on the prize. If you habitually focus on the difficulties inherent in any goal, then you set yourself up for discouragement and failure.

Many people never commence with their dream project because they look at how much competition there already is out there, and they become discouraged. After all, look at what a head start these others have, how advanced they are, and so on.

Yet, the people who become excellent at their chosen profession are usually heavily self-referential. In other words, their standard for how well they are doing is set by themselves to begin with, and they are the ones who constantly measure their progress against this pre-defined standard. They either stand or fall according to whether they have lived up to their own high standards. They are not constantly looking around to see what others think of them.

Keeping your eyes on the competition can be a confidence-destroying exercise. Imagine if the young Tiger Woods had spent his time as a child thinking about how many golfers there were out there, how excellent many of the were (and still are), and how tought the road to the top would be in such an arena of fierce competition. Well, he never would have started, would he? If Muhammed Ali had started saying “Well, I’m NOT the Greatest. There are plenty of others better, so perhaps I shouldn’t try so hard”, would he have got anywhere at all?

You should not expect too much of yourself at the start of any major new endeavor. Treat yourself gently, whilst at the same time setting yourself high long-term objectives. This means that whilst you may, for example, set yourself the goal of becoming a published author, you should not expect your initial efforts to be anything like excellent. That should not discourage you from making those efforts, and continuing to make them day in and day out, however bad they may initially be. In order to do something excellently, you must be willing to do it badly at first.

It also helps to remember that talent alone does not go all the way. Many of the highest achievers in every field of endeavor were not actually the most talented. At least one gold medal Olympic athlete is on record as saying that back at high school, there were others athletes with far more talent than himself. The only difference is that he kept at it, and they did not. It is a lesson worth remembering when you face your own personal goals.

In a very real sense, you are only ever competing against yourself. As you develop to be absolutely excellent, you naturally surpass the competition and reach ever higher towards the peak, where few dare venture. Lack of talent will not stop you. It’s only your own lack of self-belief and persistence that will.

When you look at competition, you are perceiving others to be better than yourself. This may or may not be true. Appearance are subjective. Moreover, even if it is true, it is not a static situation. You can change it any time you wish. Hence, other people in the field should only ever be used as a measure of your progress, and not as a source of frustration and discouragement.

In conclusion, try not to be discouraged by the forces waged against you. Your contribution is always valuable, even if you never achieve pre-eminence in the field of your choice. It is a misuse of your energy to look at the sheer volume of people in your chosen area, and ask yourself what good you would be, or why anybody would need or want your contribution. If that sort of thinking were applied to bread, nobody would ever open a new bakery again! Remember that next time you feel overwhelmed by the competition.