Fuelling the fire vs. dampening the spirits: Why the biggest competition is yourself

The business landscape and world around us is changing constantly, and we can spend too much time comparing ourselves to others instead of focusing on developing ourselves. Janine Garner explains why it all starts with you.

The world is becoming increasingly competitive – we can see it and feel it every day in our own businesses. Fast paced and ever changing, the experts are telling us that we are living in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

The job economy is evolving before our very eyes as technology reshapes the what, why and how we do things. The increasing number of platforms through which we can communicate are equally putting control at our clients’ fingertips. Customers, clients and suppliers are becoming more demanding. Resources that were once plentiful are becoming increasingly stretched, and at the same time we are all trying to make sense of the significant knowledge and data that is available in bucket-loads.

We are living in an era where the business of busyness is speeding up; where curiosity, innovation, ideation and creation is a must; where execution of ideas and change a necessity; where staying in the status quo is a one way ticket to disaster. However, with the business of busyness, we can become so hamstrung with what everyone else is doing that it puts us in to comparison mode 24/7. It kicks in self-questioning – rarely for the better – and dampens our spirits, often leaving us dead in our tracks. The result? No goals achieved, no journey’s summit reached. The question is this – how do you keep your fire burning brightly when the business landscape and world around you is changing so quickly?

Embrace self-leadership – keep in the zone

The achiever is focused on their vision, their goals and their capability and understands that the biggest risk to their success is themselves.

There is no doubt that most of us have a motivation to win; but to keep going, to keep pushing through? Well, that comes down to your self-belief, your mindset, your why and your drive to achieve. Those things together are self-leadership. They create the motivation that goes above and beyond simply doing what needs to be done to win.

Staying in the zone takes determination, resilience and a belief that what you are doing, whether in the corporate arena or your own enterprise, means something. The strength of staying in the zone drives your conviction and belief. It’s about doing the work, whatever is required, to consistently follow your passions and beliefs. It’s about taking the right action and making the right decision to move towards your goals.

Stop the blame game

It’s incredible how many people these days suffer from an affliction of ‘Blame-itis”– the need to blame others, to work through an endless excuses list. At it worst ‘Blame-itis’ evolves and becomes the affliction of finding reasons as to why others achieved and you didn’t. You know the ones – “Well, they’ve got the time, the contacts, the thousands of followers, the money, the support crew, the experience, the resources. Or even – they don’t have (insert whatever you have that you feel is getting in the way). The list goes on.

The top line is this: Blame-itis is not accepting responsibility for any of your actions, not being accountable for your own behaviours, making excuses and not accepting that maybe, just maybe, you did play a critical part in things not quite going to plan. The results of Blame-itis are evident – ineffectiveness, status quo and inaction.

Ownership, accountability and self-awareness are a critical part of achieving your goals. Granted, we all have different baggage, backgrounds, financial situations, and stuff going on. But if you want it enough, if you are hungry enough and if you take control of owning your role in writing your story, creating your dreams – then action will happen.

Whether things go to plan or not – own the role you have to play and hold yourself accountable for your success, whatever that may be, because this will absolutely create action towards achieving your goals. Ownership and accountability drive exponential momentum.

Your first competitive audit is… YOU

In his book, The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell famously proposes that it takes 10,000 hours to truly master anything. If this is true, then you need to embrace every one of your strengths and understand your capabilities. Use your awareness to your advantage and strengthen your unique skills to become more.

The business landscape can change in the blink of an eye and often we can spend so long comparing ourselves to others, watching everyone else instead of focusing on developing ourselves that when we remember to take said blink, the future is suddenly the present – and we are no longer a participant in our own version of success.

Open your eyes to what you are bringing to work, to the possibility of what could be, and above all make sure you reinforce your plans and dreams and change direction towards that dream if need be.

The reality is that new businesses are going to pop up out of nowhere for the foreseeable future, because it’s the way things are. New businesses will continue to challenge the norm, to create new industries and reshape the corporate landscape.

But that doesn’t mean you have to blow out your own fire of innovation. Just make sure your first competitive audit is with yourself, because you are your key competition. Ask the hard questions of yourself – are you growing in sales, profit, learning? Are you on the path to success, or are you stuck because your competition audit is creating self doubt, a negative questioning of your why – and subsequently dampening your spirit of growth and momentum?

It’s time to throw some fuel on your own fire – and light up the business sky. The people and businesses that will ultimately succeed will be the ones that are capable of making sense of the complex and chaos. The ones that will provide the insight, evolution, innovation and most of all the execution of said ideas. They will have their eye well and truly on the future goal, whilst being adaptable and willing to change their dance as required getting there. They are focused on their vision and will power ahead with conviction.

Don’t let your own flame go out simply because someone else is burning brightly. Remember, they may be thinking how warm and strong your flame is, too.