Daily Motivator Special Feature
The one and only you
by Ralph Marston
The most effective way to compete is to ignore the competition. The greatest advantage comes to those who do not seek advantage. When you’re always focused on what the other guy is doing, it takes you away from the best of what you can be doing. When you’re fighting to gain an advantage, you’re ignoring the ultimate advantage that you already possess, which is your own unique perspective.
Do you realize how very much you are worth? You have thoughts, ideas, perceptions, skills, interests, relationships and experiences that combine in a way not duplicated anywhere else. Diamond gemstones are extremely valuable precisely because there are so few of them. You, on the other hand, are immensely more valuable because there is only one of you in the whole universe. When compared to you, there more than enough high-grade diamonds available to trigger a clearance sale.
So does it make sense for you to always be comparing yourself to others, judging your life by standards that are completely outside of you?
Consider an original painting by a talented artist. That original will sell for much, much more than even the best reproduction. Why? Because it’s the one and only original of that image. Do you really want to create value? Then don’t make a copy of what someone else has done. Make an original.
Yes, you can. How? By refusing to discount your ideas. By letting your true desires come to the surface. Challenge every one of them, by all means. But don’t disrespect them. They come from a unique and original perspective. They come from the essence of the one and only you.
No, it’s not being narcissistic to value and explore and express your own perspective. Narcissistic is going around thinking you’re better than everybody else. And if there’s one thing even more pathetic than thinking you’re worse than everyone else, it’s thinking you’re better than everyone.
The point here is, comparisons in whatever direction are futile and unproductive. Forget about comparing, and start fulfilling those possibilities that are your precious treasure. Don’t obsess over mere diamonds and other trinkets when you have something that’s incomparably more precious. You have life, from a viewpoint that’s never before been experienced, that grows more rich and interesting every day.
Don’t settle for merely gaining advantage over others. For when you have that, you really have nothing that will bring you true fulfillment. Instead, take it to a vastly higher level. Be you. Be that one and only, original expression of life and existence and thought and awareness who loves it all and lives it fully.
Copyright © Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.
