My friend Torga was a provincial squash player with a fierce competitive streak. One day, after losing to her repeatedly, I found myself ahead and looked set to win. At which point I found myself feeling sorry for her. “Shame, she must feel disappointed that she is losing”, I thought. “Let me give her a couple of points so she doesn’t feel so bad”  It was all downhill from there as she took the gap I gave her, came back strong and beat me. 

I learnt an important lesson from this that relates to life in general. It is that if we are to succeed, we need to focus on the ball, not our opponent.

In business, when we spend time on LinkedIn watching what others are doing, comparing ourselves or trying to keep up with them, we are taking our eye off the ball. We easily become obsessed with what others are doing, when we should be obsessing on how to optimise our own strengths, maximise our own strategy and make the rules to win at our own game. 

Yes, we need to watch the other players out of the corner of our eye, but our focus must be on building our own pathway to success. Know your talents, build your strategy and play your ball. 

Do you find struggle to maintain focus on your own pathway to success? What tips and tools do you use to overcome this?