4 Types of Comparisons, Part 1

When you begin training it’s natural to wonder how you are doing.  The simplest way to find out is to look at others, to compare yourself to someone.  Following are 4 types of comparisons you can make.  I will show you how to effectively use each comparison in your training.

1) Self to Ideal/Paragon

Whatever your endeavor, you probably hold someone up as a paragon, a role model of how you wish you could be.  You may never achieve this level of mastery, but you set being like your paragon as your ultimate goal.

Initially, this paragon may be your primary teacher.  When you begin training the person you will see most often is your weekly instructor, who is much more skilled than you are.  Usually your teacher has a teacher, who may be your new, higher Ideal to aspire to.

It is easy to dismiss yourself and give up because you believe you will never be as good as The Paragon.  This is a mistake because, no matter what, with the proper training you can be better than you are now.

Don’t be like John McEnroe, who smashed his guitar to pieces after he heard Buddy Guy play, just because he would never be as good as Guy, because he couldn’t be The Best.

Paragons are important because they show you what is possible, if not what is probable.  We all need the inspiration paragons give us by their demonstrations of skill.

What is equally important is to refrain from comparing yourself to The Paragon, whose knowledge and experience far exceed your own.  If you think you can magically match his skill through will alone you are in for discouragement and heartbreak.

Far better to follow the training path that will eventually lead to comparable skill; there are good reasons The Paragon is just that.

I read years ago on a forum a newbie with an NLP background who boldly asserted that he wanted to be “better than Mikhail.”

Hey, worthy goal.  I’d like to be better than Mikhail too, and so would Mikhail himself.  If you’ve heard Mikhail speak about his father’s skill you’d understand.  I wonder if this guy is still training because I haven’t seen his name in years.

Maybe he gave up, having set such a lofty goal.  How about some smaller goals, like learning the basic principles of the system first?

As a student, it is too much to simply think, “be like The Paragon.”  There are too many differences between what The Paragon does and what you do.

You will improve more if you keep that in the back of your mind while you focus on your next step.  What is your limiting factor, what must you improve right now to get one step closer to the ideal?

Your daily training should reflect that.

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

― Henry van Dyke