How to Compare Yourself

One of the most insidious thing we can do to our self-esteem is to compare ourselves. Compare ourselves to what? Exactly. To compare ourselves - in at least two pernicious areas.
First, though, we need to face reality. The reality Blue Coat BCCPSA practice test is: everyone who is honest recognises that they underachieve. All of us waste time, do pointless activities, get sidetracked as a starter, but probably, and more profoundly, we all recognise that there is something in human nature which inclines us to the dark side. Even the religions that don't deal in sin - perhaps more in 'maya', or illusion - recognise that the human condition in some sense needs escaping from; or, alternatively, needs to find its 'real self' - but why is that so difficult if we - the Self - are 'perfect'?
No, honesty requires that we accept we have fallen away from the path of our true destiny, and so have underachieved, yet nevertheless this is not necessarily a crippling burden that need prevent us achieving more than could ordinarily be expected.
There are, then, two things not to compare yourself with. The first and most obvious is not to compare yourself with any other person. To model yourself on a hero or heroine, yes; but to start comparing yourself, no. For whenever we start comparing ourself to another we come to understand our own insufficiency, our own inadequacy. A famous Blue Coat BCCPSP practice test example of this was Julius Caesar who wept when he was 30 years old. On being asked why, he replied that Alexander (the Great) had conquered the world by the time he was 30?! He, for all his great victories, clearly hadn't. But was that really a fair comparison? In terms of outcomes, may be; but in terms of input? Who knows if Julius Caesar had lived at the same time as Alexander, and had the same sort of background and environment, whether he also may have conquered the world? In short, comparing ourself to others always involves false premises, since we can never be them, exactly!
This leads on to the second area where we should be wary of comparing ourself: namely, comparing ourself with artificial or external standards of achievement. This is what so many business people do today. They compare their achievements in terms of salary or company size or reputation in the market place, and their measure their lives' worth by how many 'acquisitions' they have accomplished. The same often goes in their private lives to: they have to run marathons, cross continents, climb mountains in order to have 'the T-shirt'. How sad is that?
A useful corrective to doing more and more in business, and getting bigger and bigger, is to read Bo Burlingham's wonderful book, Small Giants, which provides masterful insight into how some ten or so entrepreneurs decided to build businesses without falling into the ego trap of 'size'. What they achieved provided value as well as a real life style.
So what is the proper use of comparison? I think the only proper source of comparison is to compare ourselves with our self - what could we be? With that in mind, the acorn can become the oak. With that in mind we may decide to run marathons, cross continents or climb mountains but the reason for doing so is very different - and so is the feeling. When we use ourself to benchmark ourself, then there is marvellous sense of satisfaction as we grow and accomplish things - always realising that they are just 'things', and that the real goal is always internal. As Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa International, put it: "...without 190-836 management of self no-one is fit for authority, no matter how much they acquire, for the more they acquire, the more dangerous they become. It is management of self that should occupy 50% of our time and the best of our ability."
Thus, we must press on - there is a world to conquer but it is an internal world and the world of serving others as we grow by comparing ourself with our real self.