My friend (the wonderful Mayukh Sen) and I were reflecting on our summer quarter (the first quarter of our MBA/MSDI experience), and he made a comment that literally stopped me in my tracks. “When you see someone doing something better than you that you wish for yourself, it’s an opportunity to learn from them instead of feeling competitive.”
Simple, but profound. It’s shamefully easy to get caught up in the comparison game – in life, and especially in grad school. What if we use our envy as a cue that we have an opportunity to learn? Instead of self-pity, what if we choose to pay closer attention and reflect on how we might build similar habits/behaviors/attitudes that enable our classmate’s success? Or (getting crazy here) what if we reach out and say, “Hey, I really admire [insert thing you feel jealous about], and I’d love to learn more about it from you. Could we grab coffee sometime soon?”
If you are not inspired by (and slightly intimidated by) the company you keep, I challenge you to find people that will push you. Mayukh, thank you for helping me re-frame how I think about the comparison game!
Daily Learnings 