Outward orientation
I was recently evaluated at my job, as they do every 6 months to distribute raises. First, you must score yourself on various areas of aptitude. Then the manager scores you. 1 needs improvement. 2 meets expectations. 3 exceeds expectations. I tend to give myself a lot of 3s. I’m exceedingly accurate, I always put the customer first, I work harder than most of the people there.
But then when the manager scores me, I realize how many rules I don’t follow. But no one does that! There’s the problem. I’m comparing myself to everyone else. Comparing my own standards to other employees. Compared to everyone else, I do a hell of a job. But that isn’t the goal here, the goal isn’t to do better than everyone else. The goal is to meet universal standards, the goal is to meet my own standards.
It’s like in a yoga class, you know you aren’t doing it right when you are constantly looking around and comparing your footing to the person next to you. You shouldn’t be oriented outward, but inward. If your goal is just to be better than everyone else, then you fail yourself because you should be the best that you can be, not simply the best in the class.