Are You The -est Person In The Room?

I don’t care if you are and honestly, neither should you. Even if you’re the smartest, strongest, hardest worker in the room, there’s someone smarter, or stronger, or harder outside of the room. I guarantee it. The singular superlative person in any category is constantly shifting, and even if we could rank every person in the world, it wouldn’t matter.

I’m not the “-est” anything and I’m not trying to be. Where I rank in comparison to others isn’t important to my well-being. What is important is that I’m willing to improve. There are some that think they are the “-est” something in the room and they are content to stop progressing. That is, until their position is threatened by competition.

These kinds of people are always chasing shadows, seeing enemies in every corner. A lot of people talk about progress and improving yourself, but they don’t tell you that there is negative progress and positive progress. We’re all trying to make our way and meet our goals in this crazy world, but sometimes a step forward isn’t always a good thing.

Negative progress is where the ends justify the means. Yes, you are the smartest or wealthiest. But, what did you do to get there? Did you lie, cheat, and steal to move forward? People like this only care about appearances and often aren’t actually the smartest or wealthiest in the room. They just appear so for competition’s sake.

Here’s the kicker: there’s always competition. But, competing with others isn’t as productive as competing with yourself. You shouldn’t strive to be the smartest or strongest in the room; you should try to be the smartest or strongest or hardest working version of you that you’ve ever been. That’s much more measurable than an egotistic obsession with being better than others.

In my opinion, even if someone is “better” than another at something, they still aren’t the best. I’ve always disliked the word “genius” because I don’t believe in it. It seems to me that the term is just a way for people to categorize each other into lesser and greater than. There may be some that are more capable or talented, but that doesn’t mean they are better.

I want to be happier than I was yesterday. Stronger than I was yesterday. Because that will get me further in life than looking around to those that are levels ahead of me. Have you ever experienced “Gymtimidation”? It’s the feeling you get when you walk into a gym or fitness area and see the beautiful and strong people in all their excellence.

Well, coming from a former personal trainer, I can tell you that even those beautiful people aren’t as strong or healthy as they may have been yesterday. They are struggling against themselves too. Some of them are trying to be the best in the room, others are trying to beat personal records, but even the “-est” have to be better than they were yesterday.

Even if you fall on your face trying to compete with yourself, you’re still moving forward. Experience, even failure, is important to learning how to be better than yesterday’s you. I want to feel the sting of failure, as sadistic as that sounds, because then I know I’m not standing still. If you fear the pain of falling forward or the disappointment of taking a step back, where are you going?

If you didn’t go on a walk yesterday, go on a walk today. If you didn’t crack open a book yesterday, do it today. It’s not too late, it’s never too late. The perfect version of you is waiting in the future, always. Even if you think you’ve found them, I promise you haven’t. So, keep looking and keep learning. The only person you have to be smarter or stronger than is yourself.

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