Comparisons

It's pretty natural to compare yourself to other people in your group.The problem begins when those comparisons limit your development.

I heard of someone who was auditioning for a group with a few other candidates.  I'll call this person Zed.  When Zed was told their skills weren't good enough, their explanation was that they had gotten to a level that was better than the others and so Zed felt he/she was "safe".  Three problems:

1. Zed's evaluation of being "better" than the others was based on personal opinion and not necessarily true.
2. The others didn't make it into the group, so even if Zed was better by a little bit, it still wasn't enough.
3. Zed's attitude of only trying hard enough to do better than the others was a huge red flag for the evaluators.

By comparing his/her skills to the others, Zed ultimately shot themselves in the foot.   With a big gun.

Maybe with a group that's more competitive than this one, the strategy wouldn't have been as bad, but if you're going to use it you better be damned well sure you really are better in what counts.

The even bigger problem is what that attitude/strategy brings with it.  Who wants someone in their group who's only going to practice to get "good enough" at something?  Who's ever going to inspire someone by doing "just enough"?  What sort of work ethic does that person bring to a group?

It's one thing to be strapped for time and only be able to do "good enough".  It's another thing to not be able to achieve more than "just enough" due to a lack of ability.  But when it's your intention from the start, you're basically telling yourself (and everyone around you) that you don't care, that it's not important to do more.

So ask yourself - when you compare yourselves to others, do you limit your goals based on those benchmarks?  Is that all you want to be?

Be more, if not for your group then for yourself!