Much like most other people, I haven’t accomplished anything really particular in my life. I’m just a man with some stuff I want to do but never truly found my way.

After all, despite having a rather good life until now, I’ve always focused on what was missing.

I want to practice my languages with natives! But I don’t have the time.
I want to travel to the rest of Asia! But I don’t have the money.
I want to grow my audience! But I don’t have the knowledge on how to attract people to read me.

We’re all so often caught up in our own problems that we can’t seem to notice the happy times, the opportunities we get and the support people all around us offer.

When we see people who have “succeeded”, we tend to believe they deserved it. If you look at their past, it feels like they were always supposed to reach that point and we find ourselves judging and being jealous.

I guess that’s also why what really connects with us in articles and videos is to see how “normal” some other people are and how vulnerable they are.

Just like us

We’re all so caught up in comparisons all the time we tend to forget how much other people are actually doing the exact same thing.

Nathaniel Drew just put out an extremely vulnerable video about making comparisons with others and I found it particularly relatable.

In the end, what we are constantly looking for is something to relate to. Comparisons are, in a way, the enemy because it is so easy to let ourselves fall in a pattern of comparing everything. In fact, it’s only by turning within ourselves that we can accept who we truly are.

Nathaniel has been compared to Harry Potter and Steve Jobs as he mentions in his video and, while I get the comparison, I believe it is more a symptom of people trying to put him in a different category than anything else.

After all, he’s been becoming successful as a YouTuber and trying to compare him to some “out of reach” people or characters gives us an excuse to say.

He can do it, but I can’t.

But he’s just another Joe too! The only difference is that he’s actively working towards his goals.

And so were Steve Jobs or Daniel Radcliffe. They may have become other “entities” to the common folk, but they started from the same level as most of us do.

What’s different then?

Because something has to be different, doesn’t it? If not, they would have remained common and not grown above the rest of us.

It’s the drive.

They had such a drive they couldn’t refrain themselves from trying to become someone better. Their focus was on themselves instead of others.

Often enough, it doesn’t even start from a goal to become better than the rest, it’s just a side result of the efforts put in.

They wanted to get good at one thing and they worked tirelessly to do so.

We, common people, aren’t so driven and that is the only reason we keep on comparing and stagnating.

Instead of doing so, we need to relate to them. The focus needs to be turned on how similar we are to the ones who have succeeded.

Maybe you too can wake up earlier than others. Maybe you too can spend 15 minutes a day looking for new opportunities. Maybe you too can start right now.

But for that, we need to know what we want to do first. Do you know what your true life goals are?

There are countless ways to find them but all will start from looking within yourself. This means truly becoming self-aware.

I have spent months on end reflecting and looking within to learn who I am, what are my strengths and weaknesses, and what I want to do with my life. I know it will evolve as time passes by but I am ready to evolve with it and work tirelessly to reach my life goals. Now the real question is:

Are you ready too?