True success and achievement is not about being better than someone else; it is about being better today than you were yesterday. Comparing yourself to anyone else is self-defeating, as there will always be someone faster, smarter, better looking, wealthier, and healthier than you. I know this is easier said that done because the world demands that you compare yourself to someone or something. Standing in line at the supermarket, you read headlines about the prettiest people in America, how to lose weight, how to have better sex, and how to look like a movie star. At work we are subjected to relative rankings and performance scales. Our children constantly face scrutiny and comparisons at school where they face grades on a curve, the homecoming court, and MVP awards. The same is true for us. We have been trained to compare ourselves to others as a way to determine our self-worth. Self-worth begins on the inside and never on the outside with comparing. Continuous comparisons create a constant stream of negativity in the form of competition between ourselves and the people around us. This especially happens between siblings and family members to the point where relationships are stretched to the limit and destroyed over competition and judgment. Comparing yourself to someone else is a veiled form of judgment. You are either judging them or judging yourself. Either way, it is unhealthy and unrealistic.

On the other hand, we often demand a comparison, thinking that we deserve something that someone else has. This creates a strong sense of inferiority, which, in turn, creates guilt and anger. Comparing yourself to anyone or anything else is a battle that cannot be won. To be truly happy requires that you let go of comparisons and establish your own measure of success. Your value is in your creation and is based on your divine nature. You are and always will be who God intended you to be. You are a child of God, and that is the greatest of all of his creations. God’s will and power are much greater than your own. Who does God think is more successful: the man who overcomes anger or the man who overcomes an addiction to alcohol? We could debate this question forever, but the truth is that there is no comparison! God is not going to compare us to someone else. That is only something that man does. Our goal is to improve, to grow, to become more like God, and to develop love, compassion, and experience joy. When you compare yourself to others, you limit yourself and you limit them. A study of more than eight thousand adults revealed that a person’s level of happiness is reduced by 26 percent if he or she regularly compares the quality of his or her family and social relationships to that of others. Comparing ourselves to others creates an unrealistic and unobtainable standard to live up to and leads to unhappiness.

There are at least three forms of comparisons that are dangerous: (1) when we compare ourselves to others; (2) when we have an unrealistic view of what success is; and (3) when we compare others to others, such as comparing your spouse, your partner, or your bother to someone else. All of these comparisons are unhealthy and cause you to determine your self worth from outside sources. You are beautiful, you are wonderful, and all that beauty and all that wonder are already inside of you. Be happy by not comparing and you will see just how beautiful you are.

Kirk Wilkinson – Author of The Happiness Factor: How to be HAPPY no Matter WHAT! For a free eBook entitled 5 Steps to Creating Emotional Wealth send and email to info@thehappinessfactor.com