· 2 min read

Compare yourself with who you were yesterday

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Games with no end goal

I realized this when I was playing an iOS game called Mini Motorways.

The game is an infinite game, meaning there is no final goal where the game ends.

So each time, I would play the game, I would leave feeling unsatisfied. Looking back, I had a good enough score. But without any baseline to compare it too, I don’t know if I was doing well.

By comparing with yourself, you have a fair and proper baseline. 1

Escape competition through authenticity 2

If you are playing someone else’s game, you’ll be worst at it.

If they are entering your game, they’ll be worst at it. No one can compete you for being you 2.

Plateau of Latent Potential3 may be making you unaware of how good you have become since you started.

If often takes months (years in you are young) to do something significant like to get an job offer in a specific field. You’ll likely neglect this if you are always comparing.

Rate of Change vs Actual Change

By comparing with yourself, you focus on rate of improvement. Though the actual improvement is what will determine your present, rate of improvement which is much easier to manage will let you win in long term.

Footnotes

  1. Jordan B Peterson (The title is taken from 12 Rules For Life by Jordan Peterson)

  2. Naval Ravikant 2

  3. Atomic Habits


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