Comparison Hides Your True Potential

Thought For The Week

When we’re struggling with our fitness, weight management, or eating behaviours, we can start looking to others and comparing… If only we had their genetics, determination or willpower. But it’s easy to forget that we didn’t all start from the same place. Where you’ve come from, where you are now, and where you are going is not the same as anybody else. Remember that your path is you own. Instead of comparing yourself to others, at this moment in time consider the obstacles you’ve overcome and think about just how far you’ve come. You should feel proud: This is your potential.

Exercise Tip

Mastery - or competence - is key to keeping motivated. But if we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others, mastery might start looking pretty out of reach as soon as we realise we'll never be the fastest/fittest/strongest person in the world. Instead, the goal should be to master our own journey. One of the many things I love about strength training is that it presents so many opportunities for this: You might choose to focus on strength, power or endurance. Or perhaps you want to focus on the quality of your movement, or perfecting a particular lift. It’s not about being better than anyone else, but being the best version of yourself.

Nutrition Tip

Weight management is as simple as calories in versus calories out has got to be the biggest understatement. The relationship we have with food is a complex web, shaped by our genetics, our environment, our psychology and pretty much every other experience we’ve ever had. Just because something might be simple to implement for them, doesn’t mean it will be the same for you. If your nutrition is something you’re working on at the moment, take a step back and consider just how far you’ve come. What unhelpful eating patterns or habits have you managed to break? What positive changes have you been able to maintain? And if you’re still struggling, just remember that your complex web is different from everyone else’s, and it’ll take a different solution and a different amount of time to untangle.

Links & Resources

Book: Hidden Potential by Adam Grant shows how our fate is not written into our genes and teaches us how to elevate ourselves to new heights.

Book: In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown teaches us how to let go of comparison and embrace authenticity.

Map: The obesity system map depicts the complex web of factors that determine body weight. The same factors apply to the relationship we have with food, irrespective of our weight. Having a visual can help us appreciate its complexity, and understand just how our path to changing it will be different to others'.

Inspirational Quote

"The measure of your potential is not the hight of the peak you've reached but how far you've climbed to get there."

Adam Grant