Читать книгу Нет экзамена - Группа авторов - Страница 53

Here's a thought experiment that demonstrates the absurdity of external comparisons:

Imagine everyone else on Earth vanished overnight. Pandemic, apocalypse, rapture—it doesn't matter. You're the only one left.

Suddenly you're the smartest person on the planet. And the dumbest. You're the richest and the poorest. The most attractive and the most unattractive. The fastest and the slowest.

All ratings disappear because there is no one to compare yourself to anymore.

Would it still be important to you to be “the best”?

If you're the only person alive, does it matter that you can't run as fast as someone who's gone? Does it matter that you're not as smart as someone who's gone? Does it matter that you have less money than someone who's gone?

Of course not.

So why does this matter now?

Other people are effectively invisible to your actual daily progress. Their existence doesn't change your abilities. Their achievements don't devalue your growth.

You're participating in a race where the other runners don't even know you're there. And winning this race doesn't boost your personal odometer—it just flatters your ego.

Compare yourself to yourself. Yesterday's you is the only person who had exactly the same circumstances, resources, and challenges. Yesterday's you is the only person whose progress you can truly measure, because you have complete data.

Have you moved forward compared to where you were yesterday? Yes? That means you're growing. Have you stayed the same or fallen back? Now you have information on what needs to be adjusted.

That's it. That's the entire grading system.

Other people's progress has no bearing on yours. You don't know their starting point. You don't know their strengths or difficulties. You don't even know what "forward" means on their unique path.

But you know your "forward." You know where you were yesterday. You know where you are today. You know if you're moving in the direction you really want. And that's the only metric that matters.

Einstein discovered that space and time are relative—they change depending on your position and speed. There is no absolute frame of reference. Everything is measured relative to the observer. Two people moving at different speeds perceive time differently. And neither is "wrong." Both are correct in their frames of reference.

There is no absolute standard of success, intelligence, beauty, or progress. There is only your frame of reference and everyone else's frame of reference.

Stop trying to jump into someone else's system and measure yourself by their coordinates. It's impossible. You always measure from where YOU are.

So measure your progress relative to your own position. Your coordinates yesterday compared to today.