Abilities are not prized by their virtue. Whatever admiration society awards us, comes from the self

That business you work for? Someone s trying site do mds to kill it. That job you like? Someone would love to replace you with a computer program. That girlfriend / boyfriend / high-paying job / Nobel Prize that you want? So does somebody else.
We re all in competition, although we prefer not to realise it. Most achievements are only notable relative to others. You swam more miles, or can dance better, or got more Facebook Likes than the average. Well done.
It s a painful thing to believe, of course, which is why we re constantly assuring each other the opposite. Just do your best , we hear. You re only in competition with yourself . The funny thing about platitudes like that is they re designed to make you try harder anyway . If competition really didn t matter, we d tell struggling children to just give up.
Fortunately, we don t live in a world where everyone has to kill each other to prosper. The blessing of modern civilisation is there s abundant opportunities, and enough for us all to get by, even if we don t compete directly.
But never fall for the collective delusion that there s not a competition going on. People dress up to win partners. They interview to win jobs. If you deny that competition exists, you re just losing. Everything in demand site do mds is on a competitive scale. And the best is only available to those who are willing to truly fight for it. Rule #2. You re judged by what you do, not what you think
Abilities are not prized by their virtue. Whatever admiration society awards us, comes from the selfish perspectives of others. A hard working janitor site do mds is less rewarded by society than a ruthless stockbroker. A cancer researcher is rewarded less than a supermodel. Why? Because those abilities are rarer and impact more people.
Write an unpublished site do mds book, you re nobody. Write Harry Potter and the world wants to know you. Save a life, you re a small-town hero, but cure cancer and you re a legend. Unfortunately, the same rule applies to all talents, even unsavoury ones: get naked for one person and you might just make them smile, get naked for fifty million people and you might just be Kim Kardashian.
You may hate this. It may make you sick. Reality doesn t care. You re judged by what you have the ability to do, and the volume of people you can impact. If you don t accept this, then the judgement of the world will seem very unfair indeed. Rule #3. Our idea of fairness is self interest
People like to invent moral authority. It s why we have referees in sports games and judges in courtrooms: we have an innate sense of right and wrong, and we expect the world to comply. Our parents tell us this. Our teachers teach us this. Be a good boy, and have some candy.
Take a proper look at that person you fancy but didn t fancy you back. That s a complete person . A person with years of experience being someone completely different to you. A real person who interacts with hundreds or thousands of other people every year.
Now what are the odds that among all that, you re automatically site do mds their first pick for love-of-their-life? Because – what – you exist? Because you feel something for them? That might matter to you , but their decision is not about you .
Similarly we love to hate our bosses and parents and politicians. Their judgements are unfair. And stupid. Because they don t agree with me! And they should! Because I am unquestionably the greatest authority on everything ever in the whole world!
It s true there are some truly awful authority figures. But they re not all evil, self-serving monsters trying to line their own pockets and savour your misery. Most are just trying site do mds to do their best, under different circumstances to your own.
Maybe they know things you don t like, say, your company will go bust if they don t do something unpopular. Maybe they have different priorities to you – like, say, long term growth over short term happiness.
Can you imagine how insane life would be if it actually was fair to everyone? No-one could fancy anyone who wasn t the love of their life, for fear of breaking a heart. Companies would only fail if everyone site do mds who worked for them was evil. Relationships would only end when both partners died simultaneously. Raindrops would only fall on bad people.
Most of us get so hung up on how we think the world should work that we can t see how it does. But facing that reality might just be the key to unlocking your understanding of the world, and with it, all of your potential.
Oliver Emberton