For various reasons, some people in fitness, sports, or other fields are considered the measuring stick. That is to say people like comparing others in the same field to that person. Kobe Bryant being compared to Michael Jordan is a popular example of this. What many don't realize is this does nothing but set the person being compared up for failure.

The only example that I can really explain with certainty for this is myself. There are people both in my local area and on message boards who like to say I suck for various reasons but they use others for comparison. A few examples that I hear are "you don't have big training features like (fill in person here)" or "you never been on ads like (fill in person here)". If I based the success of my career on how I compared to others in the industry I would stay in a constant state of depression. Why would someone put themselves through this?

I was blessed to debut on Bodybuilding.com in May of 2009. I was offered a spot as a writer and agreed in February of that year. When I knew it was a done deal I set a list of goals for myself and if I was able to meet all of those goals, then I would consider my life in the bodybuilding industry a success. I won't go into what the goals were but there were 10 and I reached every one of them. To be able to say I went 10 for 10 and have actually been more blessed than I ever thought was possible satisfies me.

My example is meant to be just that - an example. The point I'm trying to make is whether it is the big guy in the gym, the people you work with, or in any sport you may be a part of, don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to your previous self. Are you better now than you were when you started your journey? If that answer is yes then you should be proud of that. It's great to want to be better and to use other people as sources of inspiration but don't frustrate yourself by comparing yourself to that person or working to become better than that person. Focus on being the best "you" possible and you will inspire others like those other people inspired you.

Rock