Remove the ceiling

It’s easy to be motivated to climb to the top — the top of the industry, the top of the competition, the top of the class, etc. But what do we do if we actually get there? Now there’s no more climbing. Now we’re trying to stay at the top. And now everyone is trying to top us.

It all depends on who our competition is. When we compete against others, we have a fixed ceiling. Even if we become the best, it will be difficult to become much better than that. And that’s because our focus is on being better than others rather than being better than ourselves.

Successful individuals and teams who are at the top (and continue to stay there) aren’t trying to be the best. Their focus is not on the competition. They don’t care about leaderboards, or who’s in first, or who’s chasing them. Their focus is on being better than themselves.

The truth of the matter is, there is no top. There is no moment of having achieved all there is to be achieved, or having done all there is to be done, or having accomplished all there is to be accomplished. There is no arrival. There is no end. The journey continues on indefinitely.

There has to be something more than just being better than the competition. And there has to be something bigger behind the drive to improve. Take a moment to think about what that is. You might find that the ceiling that was once there has been removed.