—Merlin Mann, Back to Work Episode 4
These words have stuck with me for the better part of a decade now, an idea with so much practical utility.
It helps catch such thoughts as unhelpful indulgences of fear and anxiety.
It helps reframe my own feelings of failure and inadequacy relative to how I feel I should be as a self-comparison to someone else that doesn’t even exist.
And it reminds me that if comparisons are to be drawn, they should instead be rooted in confidence and pride—a focus on the value one has that others lack, not one’s own shortcomings.