Compare Not...

I just came back from a 3 days 2 nights company team building on Sunday. Well, people who attended team building before knew exactly what is it like. There are always few programs planned out for the participants and each activity meant to find out how every individual can work together as a team and to learn the importance of teamwork.

It is always fun when we get to go for this sort of company trip where you get to interact with your colleagues in different environment and get to learn about your co-workers from a different perspective and discover the different side of each individuals.

Often it is through work and playing games that require teamwork, you get to see the true character of a person. I often find it very interesting and it is one of my great interest to study and observe people's behaviours in different conditions and when they play different roles in their daily lives, i.e. son, father/mother, co-worker, employee, superior, friend, and so on.

We do not determine the success of team building by how much the participants enjoyed the games or how much fun we had with one another but rather what has everyone learnt from those team building activities by understanding the true spirit and meaning of teamwork. Teamwork is not about being the first to finish the task; it is about how different people from all walks of life come together and put away the differences among each other to compromise and works to achieve the same goal the most effective way.

One thing I've observed in my daily lives and even more so during the past few days was, people like to compare themselves with others and complaining about what disadvantages they have, and they give excuses for why they are unable to achieve the same or do better than others due to the shortfalls they have. Often in life, we waste too much time in comparing and grumbling about our unfavorable condition, and we lose sight on what we already have. We focus too much on the 'If only I have …, I will be able to achieve the same or do better' instead of focusing on how we can make do with what we have and turn the disadvantage to an advantage.

Like it or not, life is unfair. But how do we come about to decide whether we are on the advantage or disadvantage side? It is when we start to compare. There is no such things as who is having the upper hand or not if we never compare. It’s because we compare and sometimes we found that we lack of what others have and perceive what we don’t have as a disadvantage and we use it as excuses to ourselves and to others.

For instance, A is given 1000 dollars and B is given 2000 dollars. Both are told to use the money to invest and sell the same product. Who do you think will make the most profit after one month? Naturally, majority would answer B (without much thought). Why B? Well, standard answer would be, because B was given 1000 dollars more than A and B would be able to buy more stock and sell more so logically B would makes more money. Correct? Yes and no.

Even A was given 1000 dollars less than B doesn’t mean A would lose to B, because it is not merely about who has more goods or better product to sell but many factors to define the success or failure. The packaging, how you market & promote, target consumers and price, all these play a big role. If A does it right he could easily make more money than B.

It’s only when we learnt to stop comparing ourselves to others and focusing on how to make the best out of what we already have, then only we will be able to achieve more in life. We do not live by other people standard because we should be the one to set our own standard. Always remember that the only person we need to compete with is ourselves. The greatest achievement in life is not by how many people we have defeated but how much we can out do ourselves by achieving more than what we think we could and living larger than who we think we are.

I was a little upset this morning coz I started to think about how people always perceive me and misunderstood me. I don’t know, perhaps in some people eyes, I’m like a bimbo who is spoilt, shallow and do not know how to do housework and cook and that makes me feel like I am good for nothing as I start thinking and comparing myself to other people. But then Keith told me that I should stop thinking and caring too much about how other people see or think about me. I allowed all that to affect me and I end up lost sight of people who appreciate me and look up to me for who I really am.

So should I do something to convince people that they are wrong about me? Oh well, I’m not going to bother. If people want to judge me without trying to know me better so be it, coz I live my life for no one but myself and my love ones, I’m answerable to no one but God. As long as I’m true to myself and live my life to the fullest, I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. After all, I know myself best. I am who I am and I’m damn proud of it.

Quotes to share:
“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work”

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”

“Regardless of differences, we strive shoulder to shoulder... Teamwork can be summed up in five short words: "We believe in each other."

“Public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our private opinion - what a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates his fate”

“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”