There is only one person I compete with

The only thing I am ever in competition with is the man in the mirror. The only person I am ever going to feel superior to is that guy I was yesterday. That is the whole philosophy, and I want to tell you where it comes from and what it looks like in real life.

I read a line once that stopped me in my tracks: there is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. I read that and went, oh, now that is something I really, really, really like.

Because I do not feel I am any better than anyone else. I mean that. Everything I have in this life, anyone could have. Put in the dedication I have put in, go do the work I have done, and you too can have it. Really.

What I am watching in Italy

I will tell you what has me thinking about this. Right now I am in Italy, and I have the chance to travel into just about every corner of this country. Incomes here are modest. The average person takes home around 1,250 euros a month after taxes, and even the people who climb higher are usually looking at 2,000 or 2,200. That is a tiny amount of money to build a life on.

And I have the opportunity to come in and help these people add another five hundred, another thousand, another fifteen hundred euros a month on a part-time basis. For a lot of them, that is close to doubling their income. Yes, they have to come into my program. They have to learn how to help me sell energy, and they have to actually do the work. But I am telling you, anyone can do it. Anyone.

Twenty or thirty out of a hundred

Here is how it actually goes. I might get a hundred people into a group. Out of that hundred, maybe twenty or thirty of them crawl out, come forward, get up, and do something with the quality of their life. And I will tell you something: watching those lives turn around is the most passionate, wonderful part of doing well. Being able to come here, bring the business here, and help these individuals live better is the best thing wealth has ever bought me.

And some of them take it to a whole new level. They end up earning the kind of money you would expect at the top of the American market. They do not just improve their quality of life. They get the magic dream, guys. They pop out and go somewhere that is beyond belief.

Money is the scoreboard

So what is the point? The point is the question I actually compete on: how much am I capable of doing, and how much am I able to get done? Money is how I keep score on that question. It is a measuring stick. What is the score today? Am I putting points on the board?

But the pile itself? I could not care less about the pile. What I actually care about is my ability to help others, and the scope at which I can go do that around the world.

And yes, I have nice things. I like to reward myself when I do well. I go out, I play with some of these nice toys, and I enjoy every minute of it. There is no contradiction in that. The reward is not the game, and the scoreboard is not the game either. The game is the guy in the mirror.

Keep it on the mirror

So here is where I land, and where I am going to keep it. I am not superior to my fellow man, and neither are you. The only person I am ever going to feel superior to is that guy I was yesterday.

Ask yourself the same two questions I ask myself every day. How much am I capable of? How much did I actually get done today? Then beat yesterday's answers. That is the only competition that ever mattered. All right, then. Peace out.