‘BE YOUR OWN COMPETITION’ – Michelle Dede


Stop Looking Over Your Shoulder At Would Be Competitors!



No matter how much we try, we will never be like anyone else. ?News flash people; not like the person you admire, nor like the person your mind tells you is your competition! There will never be another Prince, MJ or David Bowie! There will never be another me or you! Hypothetically, I could spend the next 7 weeks watching, studying Ik Osakioduwa or Bonang, both of whom are #TVhosts, but I will never be like either of them. I don’t want to, they’re talented, unique & so am I!

The point I’m making is if you waste your time checking out what the other person you think is your competition is doing, you WILL not get very far ahead of where you currently are. You’ll spend your time trolling through their social media handles like a sad miserable troll, you’ll waste your data you’ll miss out on learning new skills to improve those you already have, you’ll be oblivious when a potential, yet subtle opportunity for you to grow & excel slaps you right in the face!

You’ll spend time gossiping (men & women)about the supposed (imagined) threat this person has to your life or career, when in reality ‘You’re’ the threat to yourself! You’ll more than likely end up depressed ?because any good thing that happens to that person will make you feel unhappy, resentful, bitter, twisted, pathetic & ugly(internally). Worse still, it will eventually make you feel like shit, when the person changes careers ??(Ye Pa?? Laaawd) leaves the country, or you just stop hearing about them. Invariably, because you’ll not have had a chance to “show them”, before you know it, you’ll find another person to fixate on as your competitor/s!

If you focus on your own shit (yes I said shit again) you’ll get better at what it is YOU are passionate about doing.You’ll feel better & be ready when an opportunity comes knocking! In the long run you’ll be happier, more focused on getting better than you were before, better than you were last month, last year or several years ago. Your focus will be YOU, how to improve YOU!

Your focus should be YOU, how to improve YOU!! It’s not about being self-absorbed or vain I’m not condoning being either of them, it’s about looking at yourself and deciding ‘YOU’ are going to ‘BE YOUR OWN COMPETITION’ by making your passion/s your focus, be it in the culinary, film, corporate , medical, legal, fashion & beauty, or entertainment industry. Your focus or competition is NOT behind you in someone else’s body, it’s in you & in your journey where you want to go.

Yes, some people will say no! “I need to be better than X, or have more money than Y, get a hotter guy, sexier wife, car, house, contract, position..whatever! So they go the manipulative route by trying to mess up their ‘competition’, if you want to go that way knock yourself out..i’ll be drinking tea & watching like ? kermit the frog when karma catches up with you. Looking over your shoulder is a complete and utter WASTE OF YOUR TIME!, whether you do it via social media or otherwise! Find someone who inspires you, let it motivate you. That’s healthy & it’s a better use of your time/energy & data ?. 

Stop looking over your shoulder or doing giraffe-ic projection (Ya neck will pain!) Face your front (as we say in Nigeria)! Compete with yourself, be relentless (positively) in your pursuit for self improvement, pray if you believe in God like I do,…compete with the person you see when you look at yourself in the mirror, no one else!

I hope this helps someone, till next Monday, have a blessed week.

We totally love the raw and real truth in all of this and we are really looking forward to reading and sharing Michelle’s next motivational post.


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