Run Your Own Race

Imagine there are two runners- Tom and Peter.

Tom can do a 10 Km run in 1 hour while Peter takes an hour and fifteen to run the same distance.

Which of the two runners would you say did better?

The answer is obviously Tom.

If I told you additionally that Tom ran his 10 km on a prepared running track while Peter ran on rocky mountainous terrain, would your view about who did better change?

Now you would be very inclined to say Peter did better. If he can do one hour fifteen on rugged terrain, he would certainly run the 10Kms under an hour on a running track.

Let me add one more twist to this narrative. What if I now say Tom is seventy years old while Peter is 30 years old. We are now likely to say, all things being equal, a seventy-year-old Tom doing 10 Kms in an hour is more noteworthy. He certainly did better.

I can keep extending this example by revealing more information about Tom and Peter, and our opinion of who did better as a runner will keep shifting.

This is the problem with benchmarking and comparing. We form opinions about others quickly, impulsively, and conclusively, without knowing anything about them or their situation.

Life is not the same for everyone. Someone may be more talented, while someone else may get better opportunities. Someone has access to more resources while someone else may be at the right place at the right time.

But, unfortunately, we are very quick to label or judge ourselves and others just based on what little we know. We keep forgetting that there is always another side to the story.

Life is a solitary pursuit in one sense. Every one of us is running our own unique race on a unique life track. Therefore, we should not try to run someone else’s race.

Run your own race. You will always come out winning !!