Why you should run your own race at your pace

A middle-aged man was jogging in a park when he noticed another man about half a kilometre ahead of him.

The middle-aged man noticed that the jogger was running a little slower than him which made him feel good.

He said to himself, “I will try and catch up with him.” He started running faster and faster.

He gained on him step by step. After a few minutes he was about 100 feet behind the other runner, so he picked up speed and pushed himself further.

He was determined to catch up with the other jogger. And finally, he did it! He caught up and passed him.

The middle-aged man felt very good and said to himself “Yeah! I beat him.”

Of course the other guy didn’t know that they were competing. Then the middle aged man realised that he had been so focused on competing against the other runner that he had missed his turn to his own house, had missed the focus on his inner peace, had missed to see the beauty of the greenery around, he had missed to do inner soul-searching meditation — which was why he was in the park in the first place — and in the needless hurry he had stumbled and might have hit the sidewalk and broken a limb.

Think about this, isn’t that exactly what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers, neighbours, friends, and family trying to outdo them or to prove that we are more successful or more important and, in the bargain, we miss on our happiness?

Be content with what you have, be your own competition, every morning when you wake up look in the mirror and remind yourself that the person you see is who you have to compete with and follow these simple tips:

One, run your own race, run at your own pace: Be in competition with your own self, do not care about what others are doing.

You automatically march towards success when you focus on your own progress rather than others. Two, success is the sum total of small efforts repeated day in, day out: Put your heart, mind and soul into the smallest of actions that you do every day and do them repeatedly. There is no better route to happiness and success

Three, compete until your haters brag that they know you: Do not bother when your capabilities are misjudged, it’s one of the best competitive advantages one can have, and it is easy to outgrow it.

Four, hang out with people who help you to level up: You grow to be like the five people you spend most of your time with, so surround yourself with only those who are going to lift you higher.

Five, learn from your mistakes: You will never learn if you don’t make mistakes and you will never succeed if you don’t learn from them — made by you and made by others.