Don't Measure Yourself By Other Success

I heard a great bit of advice yesterday. "When you look back at your life, your defining moments will not be your greatest hits, but the times you were knocked down and defeated and felt like giving up but didn't." I have been in business for myself for six years. There are forty-three marks on a six year old piece of scrap leather I keep in the workshop that reads "Starting a business freak outs." Each one is a moment when I was ready to give up. A moment where I didn't know why I should bother, or got overwhelmed with not knowing what I was doing, or a surprise bill came in I didn't know how I was going to pay, or I felt embarassed/guilty/stupid/useless. Forty three times I was ready to walk away. But I didn't. It is easy to slip into the habit of measuring yourself by other people’s successes. But that is only part of their story too. A very small part at that. It doesn't matter if you win every battle. You only have to win more than you lose. The only way that is going to happen is if you keep showing up to the fight.

Jordan LeeComment