Brian Johnson explores Paul Jarvis's concept of false comparison: we measure our unfinished selves against others' polished results, which breeds envy and kills original work. The fix is comparing full processes to outcomes, not raw ingredients to baked pies.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last couple ones we talked about the toxicity of envy, soul ulcers and a potential antidote celebratory Mudita Love Today I want to revisit Paul Jarvis Brain and Book for one more take on how to deal with envy. He has a great passage about the perils of what he calls false comparison. First, he says, when we give in to envious feelings, the best we can hope for is second best, since we're focusing on copying someone else's path and not forging our own. Then he says, I quote again, envy is also based on false comparison, like comparing uncooked ingredients to a delicious baked pie. Envying others, we see only the end result or the final product, the delicious dessert. But in ourselves, we see all the not so tasty starting ingredients and are aware of all the real work required to combine them into a successful end product. End quote how good is that carrying on? I quote again, we too often compare our sometimes messy selves to only the best and shiniest parts of others and come up short rather than remember every business has not only its successes but its failures. One more end quote. Amen. Reminds me of a couple plus ones I linked to Messy and edited. Check those out. So recap. If you're going to compare yourself, please don't, but at least do a proper comparison. Don't compare your imperfect process with someone else's supposedly perfect outcome. And that's today's plus one. If you feel so inspired, pause for a moment and nibble on that wisdom. And let's get back to making our idiosyncratic life ingredients into a delicious, iconoclastic masterpiece. While of course celebrating everyone else's.
