I’ve been feeling a little down over the last half-week. It’s as if I’ve lost my mojo.

That’s no way to be.

And I wasn’t sure why. But then when I was talking with my wife last night (who is a trained counsellor. (note: my office is also next to three therapy rooms. Is that telling me something?) and she asked me a few
questions.

It turns out that when I dug down a little deeper the reason I am feeling down is because I am comparing myself to everyone else.

You see, every week I talk to people who are far wealthier than I am. Yesterday I was on the phone to a guy who’s younger than me but made almost a million dollars in a weekend.

I spoke with another guy whose company turned over millions upon millions last year. And another guy last week who made several hundred thousand dollars in a day during a product launch.

Basically, many of the people I relate to on a weekly basis are in the top 1% to 5% of the highest income earners in the country. So I feel like a failure because I’m only turning over in the multiples of six figures.

Aside from the fact that I seem to be overly obsessed with money (not a bad thing in moderation, but one can go overboard), I also need to realise that we all have our own journey and I must run my own race.

In therapy terms it’s called marginalisation. It’s also used in copywriting where the writer taps into the desire for the reader to keep up with the guy next door.

For instance, the Two Young Men letter by the Wall Street Journal (often referred to as the most successful letter of all time) is based on this theory. Two young men… one became the president of the company, the
other was a normal employee. What made the difference?

Knowledge.

But the reality is marginalising ourselves against others makes us unhappy. And while it may be useful in some ways to learn from others and use this knowledge as a kick-in-the-pants to get our act together… I think this paragraph from the Desiderata poem rings true…

“”If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”"

So run your own race. Listen to your own gut feeling. And trust your own inner wisdom to guide you towards
your dreams.

All for now,

Scott Bywater

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