Run Your Own Race

The “rat race.” “It’s a dog eat dog world out there.” “Lead or get out of the way.” The drive to succeed knows no boundaries, and we worry about the competition getting ahead. While personally never paying attention to time spent and wasted on worrying about the 'threat' from others, surely it is a significant number. There must be a better way. In his book Life Promises for Leaders, Zig Ziglar shares an important truth:

When we constantly measure ourselves by the successes and failures of others, we run the risk of losing our identity. When we feel insecure, we try to copy those who look successful and we criticize those who mess up. Our goal is to be one up on everybody else. We can’t afford to let anybody look better than we do. We live in fear that somebody will find out that we aren’t as “put together” as we want them to think, and our relationships suffer. We smile on the outside but were worried sick. Some of us have lived this way so long that we don’t even know there’s another way to live.

Each of us has our own race to run and need to devote our energies to running that race-only that race-as well as we possibly can. When you realize you’re comparing yourself to others, either positively or negatively, remember that you are responsible to run your own race, not someone else’s. Running your own race is doing the best you can every chance you get with what you have for a purpose that outlives you.

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Question

What are some ways that “comparison kills”?

How would it be helpful for you to focus on running your own race?

Take A Look

1 Corinthians 9:24

Psalm 37:23-24

Ephesians 4:23-24

—Mike