Stop comparing and aim higher
I have two stories and some philosophy to share. Lets consider the first story of two kids, lets call them Mark and Adam. They go to the same school and they undertake the same classes. Mark and Adam are always competing with each other. Sometimes Mark gets a B- grade when Adam gets a C. Sometimes Adam manages to pull off B- when Mark gets C. But when you take a look at their results in terms of the bigger picture of the class, they are just about average.
What my parents had taught me very early on in life is that you should never compare yourself with anyone else. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. You should definitely learn from what others are doing. But you should focus on your strengths and how you can make the most of it. The only comparison you should worry about is of your older version to your current version and always strive for improvement. Am I better at doing ‘x’ now than I was five years ago?
Lets take the above two stories and put it in business perspective. The product itself is the most important part of any company. When developing a product, the goal should be to avoid the use of the context ‘better’. The word better always implies comparison. Better than what? Depending upon the product you are comparing it against, your mileage may vary. And in the rare case that your competitor runs out of business, your product loses the purpose of its existence and evolution because it can no longer have that baseline to be compared against. I think its more meaningful to switch the context to ‘best’. When you start using the context ‘best’, you implicitly set sky as the limit. Our purpose should be to focus on making the very best. To always aim higher. So whenever in doubt while making decisions, always ask yourself this question - “Would this make it the best in the market?”
As Steve Jobs once famously said, “For Apple to win, Microsoft doesn’t have to lose”. For
