Look at the Mirror, That’s your Competition
One thing I really like about myself is the fact that I don’t see other people’s success as a grade of where I am at in life. We are all on different paths in this world I can’t compare myself to Beyonce. Why? Because I’m not Beyonce.
While I am super proud of Queen B’s accomplishments in this life I do not see her as competition because we are running in two completely different races.
There is one person I am in completion with every week, and that’s me. I had a friend put me in my place one day by telling me, “Don’t put hurdles in front of yourself before you get started.” He confirmed that I was someone really special in this world, but if I kept making excuses for why I couldn’t do something I would never understand or see the gifts I was supposed to give to the world.
He was right. The only one stopping me from accomplishing my goals was me. Why? Because I constantly made excuses. The main excuses I had:
1.) I don’t have enough time!
2.) I can’t afford the best equipment!
3.) I don’t know how to use that *insert software here*
4.) I just need to get all these things right first before I do this…
5.) I’m scared of failing
This was all bullshit.
1.) Of course I didn’t have enough time. I had to be real with myself. I wasn’t prioritizing what was important. Partying, going out with friends, and spending all my money on fashion and events was not making me more money. This had to stop. If my friend didn’t understand my refocus then I had to question how good of friends we actually are.
2.) I couldn’t afford the best equipment. Of course I couldn’t! I was spending my money on useless frivolous things that weren’t making me any money. I had to curb my spending habit and make major changes in my life. For example, instead of going out for wild parties and buying drinks my friend and I started movie night. We kept it local and chilled. My fashion game had to come to a hault. I had this ridiculous notion of not wearing the same outfit within the same 30 days. Okay I am NOT some trust fund baby where I could keep buying clothes. Now not only do I wear the same clothes in the same month I may even wear it twice I a week (don’t judge everyone is doing it)! Hey black pants are black pants! This helped me save so much money that I was able to purchase my laptop and first pro camera and lens.
3.) I blamed why I couldn’t do something because of my lack of knowledge. Hey IT’S CALLED YOUTUBE!!! We live in the information age! Nowadays computers are really affordable and most of us have data plans that allow us to watch YouTube no matter where we are. Use YouTube as a platform to get you started… and once you get more immersed and you learn all you can from YouTube then buy subscriptions to places like Lynda.com or invest in workshops that you believe are going to elevate your skill.
4.) I need to do this, that, and the other before I can get started: *BEEP* ME! That was the lamest excuse I was giving myself. I was not obligated to follow some set standard of rules that I magically made up and placed on myself. For my first site under Urban Jungle Photography I told myself that I needed to have the PERFECT photography session before people would come. No. I didn’t. I had enough photography in my arsenal, but I had this stupid idea in my head EVERYTHING had to be perfect. Then one day I heard someone say, “Sometimes you need to just jump and an then adjust after you completed it. That’s what I did, and it was the best decision I ever made. Within a month of that site launching I was asked to start shooting models for magazines. Stop following stupid rules that mean nothing.
5.) I’m scared I will fail. Lets be honest. There is a very good chance that you just may fail. However, not getting it right the first time doesn’t mean you’re an idiot. It means that you need to do something differently. Even Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, and Steve Jobs helped create Apple! Did this mean Steve jobs was a failure? No. In fact he came back more humble, bigger, and better. We need failure in order to be better. Failure is an identifier of what we need to do differently in order to achieve our goals. If anyone makes you feel bad for failing then you need to 86 them from your life.
You are your own competition.
You are the only person standing in your way to greatness. You can accomplish all your goals if you take the steps needed to debunk you excuses. The best thing I did was take a day off work to write down everything that was “stopping” me from achieving my goals and then calling myself out on it.
Once I did that it changed my life.
Do something to change yours.
Look in the mirror, that’s your only opponent.