Full text of bestselling author Rachel Smets’ talk: Stop comparing! Be the best YOU! at TEDxHarderwijk conference.
Notable quote from this talk:
‘Comparison is the thief of joy’
Listen to the MP3 Audio here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Rachel Smets – Expat Coach, Bestselling Author
Well, imagine you’re sitting in a cafe downtown and you order your favorite coffee. And while you wait, you sit around and observe the people around you.
The waitress comes and brings your coffee. And after a bit of a small talk, you find out she’s the owner of that café. And she smiles and walks away and serves other people.
And you look at her and you sit back and you think, ‘Hmm, I wish I had that too. I wish I had my own business. I wish I was that happy. I wish I had that much freedom. I wish. I wish…’
Well, that waitress, many years ago, was me. People told me how lucky I was to have my own business, to be that happy and to have that much freedom.
Lucky? Cleaning up every night; working seven days a week; working weekends, when everyone else was partying and relaxing… days I had to smile on the outside and feel like shit on the inside.
Lucky? So it seemed.
But that’s when I learned, ‘Comparing yourself makes no sense.’ Those people were comparing themselves to my ‘seemingly’ perfect life, resulting in feeling bad and putting themselves down. And they didn’t even know half the truth.
Those years taught me how comparing ourselves to others can make us feel miserable. But I learned how to turn it around and feel good instead.
So that’s what I’m here to share with you today. Most comparison is not fair. We often forget that achieving goals takes hard work. Let’s say you want to become really fit or healthy; takes a lot of workouts and specific lifestyle.
I have news for you. David Beckham, he wasn’t born this way; neither was Beyoncé. No. they have to put in the effort too; watching their diet, spending countless hours at the gym. Like running my café, it has nice moments, yeah.
But I remember vividly, the smell of beer. Every morning, I had to clean up the sticky tables and broken glasses.
Take famous authors for example. Before they even become famous, they spent years writing and publishing books. I write books too. And when my friends are going out and telling me, ‘Oh, come with us. Relax Rachel.’ I’m at home, typing, brainstorming, creating.
The reality is, a book does not write itself.
So, if you want all the positive and the fame, you should also want to hard work that goes with it, taking to account the good and the bad. Otherwise, comparing is not fair.
‘But he has the best career and I’m an idiot. She has an amazing body but I’m so weak.’
What are we doing here? We compare the outside with our inside. I mean, we compare others’ outside appearances, money, clothes, with our inside characteristics. Oh well, you won’t get bored. You will always find someone who has something you wish you had.
As a trainer, I see a lot of people compare themselves to others. I see it all the time… all the time.
So, when I ask them, “Okay, so tell me about that person you compared yourself to.” That person is an exact copy of you? It must be, because you can only compare similar things, right? You don’t compare apples and oranges. No, they’re too different.
But even if you would have an exact genetic twin, you would still grow up with different activities, different experiences, different ideas and thoughts; your personalities wouldn’t be the same; your likes and dislikes wouldn’t be same.
So, why would your accomplishments be the same? They can’t be. Impossible.
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Copying others means you live in their shadow, you follow them. So, here’s a question for you. You want to be a follower the rest of your life? Does that make you feel good? Does that make you happy?
They say, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ and I truly believe that.
As a trainer in cultural diversity and integration, I help people to understand their surroundings, and build their confidence to achieve their goals and dreams, and become the person they want to be.
And what I so often hear are these words, ‘I want a career like him. I want a body like her. I want a house like them.’ usually followed by a big sigh, dropping their shoulders, sad looking eyes, dropping their head, looking discouraged and demotivated, so ready to give up.
Why are we comparing?
Why? Often comparison comes from a counsel lack, a lack of confidence, a lack of love, a lack of self-esteem. We focus on all the things that we want; we focus on all the things that we don’t have, and that creates a gap between the ideal situation and where we are now.
The bigger the gap, the worse we feel. I can imagine people listening to me now or watching me and thinking, ‘Ah, I wish I was standing there. I wish I had the guts to stand on a stage like that, and talk to and spread a message to an amazing audience like this.
Well, it’s really simple. If you’re not willing to take steps, take actions to beat your anxiety, spend countless hours researching, creating, writing content like I did, chances are very slim that you will ever see what I’m seeing now, and that you will ever feel what I’m feeling now. I mean, look where I’m standing.
Comparing ourselves makes no sense, but we all are comparing ourselves to others. And if you say you don’t, you’re a liar. I mean, have you ever driven into a neighborhood with these gorgeous big houses, thinking, ‘How nice it would be to live here, but my place is the size of der garage.’ I sure have.
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