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Forget The Competition And Do Your Thing
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” — Sensei Ogui
There are people better than you and there’s nothing you can do about it.
You probably don’t want to hear that, but it’s a fact of life. No matter what you do, there will always be someone better at it than you. Does that sound defeatist to you? It shouldn’t.
On the contrary, if you accept this fact, you can accomplish a lot more for one simple reason. You can lose yourself in the task for the love of it.
If you don’t have to compare yourself to others, you can let go of the constraints it puts on you. Sure, you won’t be the best, but you’ll have fun and you’ll improve.
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” — Sensei Ogui
While this quote is often attributed to “Zen Shin”, the real author is Koshin Ogui — also called Ogui Sensei. It comes from a book he wrote, called Zen Shin Talks.
I would push this quote even further, though. The flower indeed doesn’t think of competing with the ones next to it. But does that mean it doesn’t notice it?
