I’m kind of a competitive person. I own that.
My best friend won’t play games with me or my family. Because we’re all super competitive.
We heckle each other. We keep score. We mock the losers if they pout.
Probably not the best qualities to possess. But they’re there.
I never thought the way we played games and the intensity we had about them was wrong until my best friend told me she’d never play board games with my brother and me again because we were vicious (we’d been playing Clue — yes, vicious at Clue).
That’s when I started to think I’m too competitive. And that it meant people wouldn’t want to play with me—or even worse, wouldn’t want to be my friend.
You know what it actually meant? It meant I held back in my business. It meant I diminished myself and my success and played down my goals and dreams because they might make other people uncomfortable.
It took me a long time to realize that competitive is not a bad thing. It drives me. It makes me want to be better.
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It’s not shameful. It’s just a fact about me.
But what I don’t want to be is competitive with other people.
I don’t want to compare myself to another business coach who is further ahead than I am, and start to beat myself up about it. Because there’s nothing good that’ll come out of THAT.
So, yes, I’m competitive. But I’m my own competition. I’m constantly striving to create something better than the last version, or do it quicker, or create something that’s more valuable than anything I’ve created before.
For instance, right now I’m in the midst of a self-imposed challenge to create a year’s worth of content in 30 days.
I’m not doing it with anyone…I’m challenging myself.
Because if I can manage to accomplish this, I will have totally outstripped anything I’ve managed to do in the past when it comes to content creation. How cool will that be?
My competition is me, and I’m ecstatic every time I one-up myself. Competitive is a good thing.
Here’s my point in all this: if you’re a competitive person like me, make yourself your biggest competition.
I guarantee the growth you’ll see in yourself will far exceed any growth you’d experience by competing with someone else.
Plus, you don’t risk falling into comparisonitis and imposter syndrome. Which is far too often what happens when you compete with someone else.
Own your competitive nature. It’s going to serve you so well in your business.
Just point it in the right direction: inward.
About The Author
Hey! I’m Cass, a Certified Brand Coach and a Co-Founder at Lovely Impact. I help coaches elevate their businesses with beautiful branding and websites. Here on our blog, my content focuses on branding, web design, and storytelling.
