{"id":53545,"date":"2017-11-13T19:23:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T03:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=53545"},"modified":"2017-11-14T15:19:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T23:19:55","slug":"how-to-stop-comparing-yourself-to-others-and-make-an-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-stop-comparing-yourself-to-others-and-make-an-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others and Make an Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 1726, at the ripe age of 20, Benjamin Franklin created a habit-tracking system to help him live a more successful life. On each day of the week, he would give himself a crossmark for the virtues he failed to practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.\u201d \u2014 Benjamin Franklin.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Benjamin\u2019s 13 Virtues:<\/strong> Temperance. Silence. Order. Resolution. Frugality. Industry. Sincerity. Justice. Moderation. Cleanliness. Tranquility. Chastity. Humility.<\/p>\n

Build Your Internal\u00a0Compass<\/h3>\n

This checkmark system alone wasn\u2019t enough for Benjamin.<\/p>\n

Each morning, he would ask himself\u00a0\u201cWhat good shall I do this day?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0before he wrote a short journal as he jotted down his ideas. Each evening, he would reflect on his day with this single question:\u00a0\u201cWhat good have I done today?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality of your life comes down to the quality of the questions you ask yourself on a daily basis.\u201d \u2014 Tony Robbins.<\/em><\/p>\n

His check-mark system, alongside his morning and evening questions – served to steer his life in a far more focused direction. It made him\u00a0continually think about ideas he could implement each day to practice goodness<\/strong>, both for his benefit and the benefit of those around him.<\/p>\n

His three daily habits, gave him\u00a0an internal compass<\/strong>\u00a0from which to measure his life\u2019s success. His systems not only affected his daily actions but they also positively influenced his thought patterns each day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outer conditions of a person\u2019s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state\u2026Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.\u201d \u2015\u00a0<\/span>James Allen<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>As a Man Thinketh<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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All the plaudits he received in his lifetime were secondary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the end, his success wasn\u2019t determined by others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was determined by his own standards.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

His Circumstances Didn\u2019t Determine His\u00a0Success<\/h3>\n

Benjamin Franklin only had two years of education during his youth. He was the 15th child of seventeen children from a poor family background. He ran away from his family at the age of 17 after being violently beaten for writing under a pseudo-name in his brother\u2019s newspaper.<\/p>\n

Yet he found a way to move away from any sort of mental victim mentality.<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s storms, in his case, created more resilient roots.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin didn\u2019t measure his success or failure through extrinsic rewards or his past experiences\u2014 he forged a deep internal locus of control which he then extrapolated into his three daily habits.<\/p>\n

Are you operating based on external standards, or internal standards dictated by yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my life, just like everyone else, I\u2019ve had my fair share of storms. From growing up with a violent stepfather, to being homeless, and being forced to move country at the age of eight.<\/p>\n

But pain is never an excuse for mediocrity.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an excuse for Benjamin, and it shouldn\u2019t be for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with an internal locus of control believe that they are responsible for (or at least can influence) their own fates and life outcomes. They may or may not feel they are leaders, but they feel that they are essentially in charge of their lives.\u201d \u2014 Daniel J Letivin.<\/p>\n

Did Benjamin Franklin\u2019s Daily Habit System Help Him Live a Meaningful Life?<\/h3>\n

In his\u00a0autobiography<\/a>, Franklin wrote that through his daily habits, he never\u00a0\u201carrived at the perfection he had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, he admits his attempts made him a happier and far more productive man than he would otherwise have been. While he may have not reached a state of perfection, he did indeed live a life of true excellence.<\/p>\n

The truth is, our lives will never be \u201cperfect\u201d. But the more relentlessly we move towards that \u201cperfection\u201d in our habits and character, the more our lives will reflect everything we\u2019re yearning for.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.\u201d \u2014 James Allen<\/p>\n

Just Some of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s Accomplishments Include:<\/h4>\n
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  1. Inventing bifocal lenses that allow people with presbyopia to see in the distance through the upper half of the lens, and read through the lower half.<\/li>\n
  2. Creating lightning rods which protects millions of buildings from the hazardous effects of lightning strikes.<\/li>\n
  3. Founding the University of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society, which have both positively influenced thousands of students lives and shaped America\u2019s cultural landscape.<\/li>\n
  4. Publishing Richard\u2019s Almanac, which contained the calendar, poems, sayings and astronomical and astrological information which pioneered the way information was presented in many books thereafter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    None of those accomplishments would have been possible had he not focused on living each day that was offered to him, with the utmost focus.<\/p>\n

    And one of his secret weapons was his\u00a0daily habits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cThe Secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.\u201d \u2014 Mike Murdock<\/p>\n

    Look Inside Yourself for Your Sense of Self-Worth<\/h3>\n

    The moment we begin to look outside ourselves for our measures of success, the more we run the likelihood of feeling like failures.\u00a0And it\u2019s also the moment we limit our potential success.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We\u2019re all living within the confines of our own orchestrated reality.<\/span>\u00a0The moment you think someone is better or inferior then you, you limit your thinking \u2014 according to research in\u00a0Nany Kline\u2019s book\u00a0<\/em>Time to Think<\/em><\/a>. And when you judge someone\u2019s accomplishments in relation to yours, you perpetuate an illusion that\u00a0masks your real self-worth<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Unless you\u2019ve built your own internal measures of success, then you will always run the risk of comparing yourself to others. And that\u2019s dangerous \u2014 you can end up risking your sense of self-esteem and unique individuality for some external standard \u201cyou\u2019re supposed to meet\u201d.<\/p>\n