Have you ever seen a horse race or been on a horse carriage? If you have, you likely noticed little “blinders” on the horse’s eyes. What are the purpose to these blinders? According to horsemanshipworld.com, they are “used to enhance concentration keeping the horse focused on the task ahead. Blinders reduce visual distractions from behind the horse and sometimes the sides too. Many believe they can make a big difference in the performance of a horse when typically used in racing or driving horses.” In summary, blinders allow the horse to focus on the task at hand, and not to concern itself with what those around it are doing. I believe most of us can use this concept of “putting the blinders on” in our everyday lives.
In the world of social media, we are able to see the “highlights” of everyone’s lives. Of course most people will not put their negative out there for the world to see, but most will be quick to show everyone the positives in their life, even if those positives are often times over exaggerated. Weight loss, fitness or health is no exception to this. Many people who like bodybuilding may follow famous bodybuilders whose soul job is lifting weights, eating food, taking performance-enhancing drugs and getting a minimum of eight hours of sleep every night. But no casual fan will be able to do that. Many fans of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may watch him eat a 5,000 calorie cheat meal, but that doesn’t mean that we should eat like him because we think we need to do what he is doing. Many fans of CrossFit may watch the CrossFit Games and see athletes do incredible things and envy their performance, but they don’t see the hundreds of hours of training the athletes put in every year. And many people on their weight loss transformation journey may see “Instagram models” and compare themselves to them and feel discouraged. But here is my advice to all of you…put the blinders on. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Don’t worry how much “farther ahead” they are of you. Don’t compare your looks to theirs. The only comparison you should do is comparing who you are today to who you were yesterday, last week, last month and last year. Make it your goal to improve 1% every day. If you started your journey today, and only improved 1% each day, the end result one year from now would be a 37.8 times better version of you!
We live in a day in age where we have information overload and access to anything and everything, including other people’s lives on social media. But I warn you to look at it with a grain of salt and understand that you don’t know the whole story. I would further advise you to not even worry about what anyone else is doing, just worry about you. Now, if someone else is having great progress or success in their endeavors, by all means, please congratulate them and cheer them on! But do not compare yourself to them. I say this because I believe something that many people may not. I believe that you are wonderfully and uniquely made by God. There is no one else in this world like you! So embrace who you are! Always seek self improvement! But do so with the blinders on. Not worrying about what anyone else is doing or what anyone else thinks. I believe that if you pursue your own path, while cheering others on in their pursuit of greatness, then you will experience much more happiness and much less stress in your life! I hope this influences some of you to stop comparing yourself to others and just focus on making you the very best version of you!
Have a great rest of your week!
Coach Rich
Richard Fitzgerald 