There is an ancient proverb that says there is nothing valuable in being better than someone else, true nobility lies in being your best self. And what I’m speaking to is not only blocking out the noise and the opinions of other people so you trust your instinct and you push the projects at work that you know will engage your primal genius, and so that you live by your values. I’m also encouraging you not to think about competition and not to think about comparing yourself. In business, a lot of times what people do is they spend their days looking at the competition and the ncopying the competition or competing against the competition, but I’m encouraging you to forget about the competition. Don’t even look at the competition and start asking yourself, how can I create masterwork that will really provide beautiful reward for my customers and showcase my talents and allow me to move closer to mastery?And in your personal life, don’t compare with your neighbors. Your neighbors are on their journey, they’re doing what’s right for them. Trust yourself. Have faith in yourself. Honor your instincts. It might not be right for your neighbors, might not be right for your family members, like uncles and aunts and parents, but if it feels true to you, then honor that instinct. That’s a recipe for following your destiny.I’d also say that a lot of what you see digitally, for example, about how people are living, as you know it’s pure illusion. We live in a world of so much plasticity. We live in a world of so many people showing lives that they really don’t live designed to collect likes. And you don’t want to fall into that trap of saying,”Oh, I’m going to go online and I’m going to see how people I admire or people I follow, how they live.”And then you feel bad because you’re not living that life. Well, a lot of times they’re not living that life either, they’ve just manufactured that staging to make you think they’re living that life. And often showing off is coming from a place of great insecurity, because it makes me think of that time I met Muhammad Ali. We were in Los Angeles. My parents took us for a Christmas trip, my brother andI, we rented a Dodge K car and we were driving along and all of a sudden I looked and I saw this brownRolls Royce and people were hitting the horn and slowing down. And as we drove by, I whispered to my brother. I said, “That’s Muhammad Ali.” My mother heard me say, “That’s Muhammad Ali.” She asked my dad to pull a U-turn on this Los Angeles Boulevard and we were in hot pursuit of Muhammad Ali. I looked at my brother, we couldn’t believe it. We were arriving with embarrassment. My father accelerated, my mom rolled down the window, very elegantly because my mom’s very elegant and wonderful, she leaned out the window and she said, “Mr. Ali, Mr. Ali, could we meet you and have a photo with you?”And so very gracefully, he pulled over. He pointed to an area where he wanted us to pull over. He didn’t know who we are. He took pictures with us, couldn’t have been more gracious, noticed my dad was taking the pictures, looked at my dad and said, “Would you like a picture?” He said, “Absolutely.” He was polite. He gave us a very gentle smile. And then eventually we thanked him and he drove off. And our family has never forgotten that experience. One of my dad’s patients, my dad used to be a family doctor, one of my dad’s patients made the photo of us and Mr. Ali into a clock that sat in our family room.My point is, the humblest is the greatest. And Muhammad Ali was the heavyweight champion of the world, one of the greatest icons in history, human rights leader along with one of the greatest athletes of all time. And so when we truly own all we truly are, when you rebuild that relationship with your primal hero and remember your strength, remember your true power, when you really remember that you are a creative person within, when you really remember your gifts and your talents, then you’re not going to need the outer world to validate that you’re valuable. And you’ll be like Muhammad Ali; fully intimate with your true power and your strength. And then you’ll be humble. You’ll be a great listener. You won’t be as insecure. You won’t feel the need to be like these influencers so that you feel betterabout yourself. Give yourself the applauseand the honor you’re seeking from the world and the worldwill beat a path to your door.
