I was reminded the other day while working with a particularly ego driven individual, who spent a lot of time professing their importance on every level, how important it is to keep things in perspective.  While understanding why people have a tendency to measure and compare helped me maintain my cool in the situation, I still found myself having to "manage" through the encounter and came away a bit perturbed.   But as I cooled a bit I took solace in the fact that the situation gave me a chance to remind myself how important it is to remember that success or failure is completely unique to an individual. Attaining wealth, fame or status, success is different for each of us.  It's a good thing for me and maybe for most of us to remember that how we react in a particular situation is our choice.  We get to choose and it's very personal.

Often, I've compared my achievements to those of other people only to find mine come up short.  There is always someone who earns more, has a more prestigious job or is more active in the community.  However, if I stop and reflect on how far I've come, the personal picture of my success is one I'm pleased with and the strides I have made are significant for me. That's the measurement that seems to be the most relevant.  It's not where we are it's how far we've come from where we started.  And it's not just in the big picture of life, it's in the everyday accomplishments that we make.  It's being able to look back on a project we took on and being able to judge it on it's own merit, recalling where you were at the beginning of the project and where you are at the end.  And make sure you celebrate that you got to the end, which by the way will rarely be exactly where you planned it to be.  It could be better, it could be worse but there was a beginning and an end and a whole lot of stuff in between.

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