By recognising and discontinuing competitive comparisons, and asking questions to open up your thinking, the speed and ease of your business will be greater. You will also enhance the impact you generate in the world.

by Mariano Godoy

“You have to crush the competition!”

“I'm losing money to my customers!”

Do those phrases ring a bell? Have you said them yourself, or have they ever been said to you?

We live in a world where competitiveness prevails

In my case, I remember that there was a time when I didn't like being second – not to anything. I'd even rather not participate than be second. My god!

Learning through our choices

One day, in high school, we were running a timed 1km run. I was leading, I went out first and I was going at full speed, very confident. I felt my whole body flying on the track. I was euphoric! But a few laps before the end of the race, my competitor who was running second overtook me. I tried to reach the line before him, but I could not, and I stopped running about 100 meters from finishing, ending the race in second place. What was wrong with me?

I was so disappointed to finish in second place that I ran out of strength and gave up.

What struck me was that, despite being awarded second place, and especially when I stopped running to walk, the guys and girls who were watching the race started to cheer me on... a lot!!

For a moment I didn't understand the situation. Why would they encourage me if I was finishing second?

It took me a few seconds to react and get back to the race, and running with as long and fast strides as I could, I entered the finish line keeping my second place by only a few seconds.

The way we run the race, is the way we are in business

Why am I telling you this? I'm not the only one who's ever participated in a competition intensely. I'm not the only one who's ever wanted to give up or who's had a destructive competitive spirit. I think this story contains several ideas about how we create our life and our business.

For me it is a clear example of how the competitive spirit can destroy our chances of enjoying our business and our lives.

How many businesses have you stopped creating or working on because of the simple fact that there is, ‘someone bigger than you’ in your niche market?

How much have you compared to others to define the value of your business and own self?

How many times have you tried to go against ‘the competition’ to try to make a profit?

Two choices in competition

As I told you at the beginning for me: there are two ways to compete. The first is when competition devalues your business or that of others – comparisons that block your business, creativity, and money flows.

The second is a competition where you can be inspired by what others do to get more out of you, grow your business, improve the world and inspire others.

Really very few people run from this second option, and I have had to work on myself to change from the first to the second... and there's still work to be done.

Am I trapped in emotions and thoughts?

What I do know is that when I worked from the view of the younger version of myself, the emotions and thoughts I had in me didn't help me create more. Rather they locked me up and created a sense of anguish.

Instead, when I switch to the second type of approach, my creativity is unstoppable. I nurture and inspire with the successes of others, and am available to help others achieve great things.

Where are you working from?

If you are always aware of what your ‘competition’ does, and that does not inspire or nourish you, how much energy are you no longer dedicating to your own business and your life?

There is a tremendously effective remedy for this: FOCUS ON YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS!

Not in a self-absorbed way, but in a creative way. How do I create a thriving business that I am inspired by?

Ask yourself questions.

If you are spending more time watching other people's businesses than your own, (something very common in this age of social media) you have to look back at your business... and start asking yourself some transformative questions.

• What do I bring to my business/product that is different from everyone else?

• How can I, who has not yet been recognised, benefit the world?

• What else can I be and do, that I haven't done and/or been yet?

• What is my business that I have not yet recognised?

• What do my clients give me that I'm not recognising or receiving?

• What else can I create that I've never created before?

• Who is an inspiration to me? How can I create that?

• For whom am I an inspiration? How can I increase that? 

By asking yourself these questions, you will start to have awareness of the UNIQUENESS that is you, your business, and your products.

With this consciousness, it begins to pull you out of the poison of destructive competition, to put you on the creative highway. On this highway the speed of your business is greater, the ease is greater, and the impact you generate in the world as well.

I hope this will inspire you to look at you and your company, what gifts you have to give, and what you are already contributing to the world.

That's what the world and business urgently need!