Since birth, many of us have been taught to compete for what we want in life. We compete with our peers in school for the best grades, because only so many people can get As. This mindset continues through college and forces us to compete to the point where we mislead and deceive our own friends, because there’s only a limited number of opportunities to go around. This competitive mentality is prevalent our careers because only so many people can get the promotion or raise. We compete because we believe resources are limited and there’s not enough to go around for everyone. This is the wrong way to think about things. There’s more food grown and processed in the US for everyone to eat, but children are starving. There’s more building materials alone in the US for everyone to have shelter, but people are homeless. We’ve been convinced that there’s not enough resources to go around and as a result, we don’t even try to get the things we desire, because our circumstances leave us less competitive. But this doesn’t have to be the case.
Resources are vast, even the most skilled economist can’t quantify the resources available on God’s green earth. The visible supply seems unlimited, let alone the invisible supply. How do we quantify something that’s limitless? Opportunity is limitless. Jobs are limitless. Money is limitless. It is quite possible that you don’t have what you want in life because you’ve been trying to get it the wrong way. We’ve been competing with others, but we only need to compete with ourselves to attain all that we desire.
I’m only scratching the surface of this idea, and of course the concepts outlined below could benefit from further explanation. But below are five steps you can take to create the opportunities you want without competing for them.
The competitive mind frame teaches us to compete with other people in order to reach our goals. People of this mindset believe that resources are limited and opportunity is sectioned off, therefore we must compete with everyone around us for those scarce assets. If you are deliberate and conscious about being a better person every day, by learning from you mistakes, developing new skills, and perfecting your craft, you’re going to grow exponentially. You will soon be far ahead of others and realize that there is no one else to compete with but yourself.
When you adopt the creative point of view and rid yourself of the competitive point of view, you will no longer be in a rush to get things done. There’s never a bad time to create value. If you add value to others, others will add value to you and help you get ahead in life. As long as we continue to grow along our own path, we will shine and so will others, and that’s okay.
Resources are vast, even the most skilled economist can’t quantify the resources available on God’s green earth. The visible supply seems unlimited, let alone the invisible supply. How do we quantify something that’s limitless? Opportunity is limitless. Jobs are limitless. Money is limitless. It is quite possible that you don’t have what you want in life because you’ve been trying to get it the wrong way. We’ve been competing with others, but we only need to compete with ourselves to attain all that we desire.
I’m only scratching the surface of this idea, and of course the concepts outlined below could benefit from further explanation. But below are five steps you can take to create the opportunities you want without competing for them.
- Create something. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be a business, a fundraising campaign, a committee or coalition. It could be a mentor organization, or a big event around a holiday or specific cause. In my last blog post, The Real Reason We Hate Our Jobs I argued that we are formed to create. We have the unique ability to create whatever we want to make our lives more convenient. When you create something, you do 99% more than most people. What you’ve created says a lot more about your character and potential than what you’ve been able to accomplish through competition.
- Tell people about what you’ve created. Document it. You can do this in a blog, yes, people still read blogs. Make a documentary, take some pictures, write a journal or a novel. Document it on social media, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. This is a very cost efficient way to tell people about what you’ve created. If what you’ve created has value, people will ‘like’ it, upload, download, and share it. Whether you get an overwhelming response about what you’ve created or not, read the next step.
- Improve what you’ve created. Once you’ve created something, make it better. When you create something you have the ability and unlimited potential to improve it. Seek feedback. Conduct research. Be willing to fail fast to make continuous improvements. Listen to your audience. The market will tell you exactly what they want, what they’re willing to pay for, and if they’re willing to pay you for it.
- Use what you’ve created. Be a walking example of the positive effects what you’ve created can bring. The only reason I can convince people to pay me to help them get their dream jobs is because I’ve had my dream job since I graduated college. They believe me because the information I share worked for me and for many others who’ve used my services. For anyone to buy into what you’ve created, you must have living proof. Show don’t tell.
- Give what you’ve created. Some of the best advice I ever received was, give your services away for free before you expect to get paid for them. I started out helping my friends and family for free, then started charging about $10 per hour for my services. Soon, my demand grew so much that I had to charge a lot more and it became lucrative enough for me to quit my day job. I run my business on the motto that if I give more in use value than I receive in cash value for the service I provide, I will always be in business. If it’s valuable, people will come to you from all directions to return the value you gave them, in the form of capital.
The competitive mind frame teaches us to compete with other people in order to reach our goals. People of this mindset believe that resources are limited and opportunity is sectioned off, therefore we must compete with everyone around us for those scarce assets. If you are deliberate and conscious about being a better person every day, by learning from you mistakes, developing new skills, and perfecting your craft, you’re going to grow exponentially. You will soon be far ahead of others and realize that there is no one else to compete with but yourself.
When you adopt the creative point of view and rid yourself of the competitive point of view, you will no longer be in a rush to get things done. There’s never a bad time to create value. If you add value to others, others will add value to you and help you get ahead in life. As long as we continue to grow along our own path, we will shine and so will others, and that’s okay.
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