I’ve talked about this loads, about how picking your Jones’s and the people you rate yourself against, the yard scale we use to assess your progress in the world is so, so important.
I was struck the other day by a blog by Seth Godin exactly on that topic just as I was thinking about it (he has a tendency to do that). The blog is ‘Dancing with Status Roles’. In that piece of writing Seth suggests that it’s almost impossible to change your character from someone who always wants to be winning or another who’s happy to be two steps behind.
The important thing is to change the roles and environment of the game you’re playing.
If you find you are an alpha then position yourself in a group where you can be an alpha.
If you find that you are not fussed at all about achieving what anyone else achieves, then put yourself in a group with similar people who allow you to position yourself in a place of contentment.
Many years ago when I used to successfully navigate the fellowship in dental surgery at the royal college of surgeons, I realised in the library as we were ‘meeting the examiners for a sherry’ that everybody in that room was better qualified than me.
All you do when you climb up a rung of a ladder is join other people on a similar rung on that ladder.
Even for the very, very best there is no peace and no contentment as they continue to strive to chase invisible adversaries.
Once you’ve set your rules and the people who surround you, then you can get on with the important stuff of making a positive difference to everybody else.
Blog Post Number - 2980
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