I will confess, I haven't always been great with abundance. I like to have a lot. I'd like you to have a lot. But I wasn't so excited about you having a lot of what I wanted. I kinda thought that if you got it, there would be less for me.
Maybe if you wrote a book that was similar to the one I wanted to write, no one would want my book. If someone is speaking at an event, no one will want me to speak at that event. If someone else could teach you something, maybe no one would want me to teach them anything ever again.
I've never been sports kinda competitive but I've wanted to be the smartest person in the room for a long time. If I didn't feel like I was the smartest, I'll pull back.
Of course, I'm not proud of that but there it is.
What I've learned lately is that there is room for everyone. There's enough success to go around. Your success doesn't mean I'm not successful, or that I can't be successful. The world needs everyone's contribution.
I'm not sure the exact date I figured this out. Maybe it was a slow realization. I suspect the growing realization came with my growing self confidence. When I look back over my life, I can chart my confidence and it looks like a drawing of ocean waves. It grows. It falls. It grows again.
It might also have to do with my new found "live and let live" mentality. People don't like me. There are people I don't like. I don't have to spend any time on those people. If they leave me (and my family) alone, I'm more than happy to leave them alone. I try not to give them a lot of my mental energy or time.
They can have their success. I'll have mine.
I'm not perfect. This whole philosophy could fall apart tomorrow. But for today, I'm good.
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