it’s 2009, forget about the Joneses.
Keeping up with the Joneses is about as outdated as leg warmers, Jazzercise, and this 21 Jumpstreet DVD set.
Last night I read this post from the Motivational Memo blog entitled “The Despair of Compare”:
“If there is one word of wisdom I can offer you today it’s this: stop comparing yourself to those around you.
The days of keeping up with the Jones or the Smiths are dead and gone. Stop looking at the other guys car, because if you knew the truth of it all, you’d probably be glad to know that you don’t have to pay his monthly lease bill. I have seen it time and time again – especially in tough economic times – the shedding of top end vehicles and multi-million dollar mansions because the vehicles and properties were never owned by the occupants in the first place. They were owned by the bank. So stop comparing yourself with others and their stuff.
The only person you should be comparing yourself with is you and your last week, month or year’s performance.
Here are some questions to prime your personal comparison pump -
- How far have you come?
- What skills have you added to your resource in that time frame?
- How much more money have you saved?
- How much bad debt have you reduced?
- How many credit cards have you cut up?
- What have you produced in the past twelve months?
- What new mentors have you added to your circle of influence?
- What new friends have you added to your circle of peers?
- How many people have you positively influenced?
- How much money have you given to your church or charity?
- How much time or effort have you volunteered for no charge?
- Have you grown as a person?
- Are you more in love with your spouse and your children than last year?
But don’t’ spend one minute on a comparison analysis with someone else. It’s a total waste of time.”
Regarding the dance/Salsa scene, Felix Padilla said to me a few weeks back, “Everyone has something to bring to the table”.
So in other words, if you view the dancefloor as a potluck of expression rather than a measuring stick, you just might go home with something good to eat.
