You Don't Have To Be The Best Or The Biggest

There used to be a time when I thought that being the best is all that matters. At school, at the games I play and, later, at work I aimed only at being the best. And to be fair, there is nothing bad about wanting to be the best. I think most of all I achieved growing up were the results of that motivation to be the best. Just that there is one big fault with always wanting to be the best: you have to follow rules and take a path everyone else is taking. Even if you are creative about the way you run that path.

I have certifications I don't use and paid heavily in study time and money to get. I have worked jobs that weren't designed around my strengths and personality. I have had to do the things I enjoy only after work and on weekends. And I was constantly trying to show my value to the company I worked for. It made the most part of my life look like a race. A competition. Climbing an overcrowded ladder. 

Then I began thinking hard about my life and the lives of the people around me. I began considering what it is I really want to do with my life. But every time I thought about going for my dream I was always faced with an inner voice of doubt telling me that I am not equipped enough, that I am not the best or the biggest.

And I see this thought trail in others too. You love writing but you don't want to do it full-time because you are not the best writer there is around nor the biggest (most popular) one. You have a business idea but you don't want to commit to it because you see better and bigger businesses already established. Everyday, there is someone delaying his dream because he doesn't consider himself the best or the biggest.

Today, I want to tell you that it doesn't matter that you're not the best or biggest. Most likely, too, the company you work for or the path you keep walking along is also not the best or biggest. You should see your life as a journey, an expedition, and not a recurring sprint. You don't have to do the things you don't want so you can only dream of the things you want. You don't have to climb an overcrowded ladder just because you see someone you are better than up above you. You don't have to be constantly in a race, walking the same path as everyone else.

image: vonstrago.deviantart.com

When you care too much about being the best or the biggest you miss out of the fun in the journey. Though I quit my job last year to build the best and biggest Excel consulting firm in Nigeria, now, after a year of experiencing things I have only read about or seen in movies I am more concerned about going at my own pace and enjoying the journey. I don't care if you are not as good as me and you make more than 10x my income. I don't care if you are bigger than me despite I have superior services. I don't care if I don't get any external support. I don't care if everyone is speeding past me. I'm not in a race (anymore). I am on a journey, an adventure, and thoroughly enjoying it is what matters most. I don't have to be the best or the biggest. 

(In line with this, you guys should expect my novel soon. Writing over 10,000 words this week has proven to me that I can finish my novel sooner than I thought.)