Often, a story from one of my teacher's, Simon Sinek, bubbles to the surface of my mind. It goes something like this:Simon spoke at an education summit at Microsoft, and then at an education summit for Apple.
At Microsoft's education summit, 80% of their powerpoint slides centered around "how to beat Apple."
Afterward, they gave Simon their new Zune, which was essentially their version of the iPod back in the day. He said he couldn't use it though since it didn't work with iTunes, but that's another story.
At Apple's education summit, 100% of the people spent 100% of the time talking about how to help teachers teach and how to help students learn.
One of these companies is focused on their purpose, while the other is focused on their competition - Guess which one feels intense frustration.After the Apple event, Simon shared a cab with an Apple executive, who he turned to and said, "You know, Microsoft gave me the new Zune and it is SO much better than your iPod." The Apple executive said in response, "I have not doubt." Conversation over.Apple is focused on beating themselves while Microsoft is focused on beating everyone else, "being the best", and "winning." Winning by what agreed upon units of measurement? Units sold? "Quality"? Features? Some other arbitrary number or combination of numbers? What?There is no winning in life, only improving upon ourselves.There is no race to run against others, only a race against ourselves.I find it funny when people say they will become the "best" at whatever they want to do. Then and there, I know they are headed down a path of frustration, or at least delusion. I'll expand upon the delusion part:Everyone can have their "moment in the spotlight" or their time "on top" if they use arbitrary metrics. This is why most people who have written a book proclaim themselves a "bestselling author." What does "bestselling" mean? What universally agreed upon metrics define "bestselling"?Sure, if the author is listed on an official list, like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, then maybe that could constitute as bestselling.But hey, there are 1.8 million books on Amazon, so if I'm in the top 25,000, then does that mean I'm a "bestselling author"? Well, if I'm using my own metrics, then sure; I'm in the top 25,000 bestselling, so I can call myself a bestselling author in my own world of delusion and arbitrary metrics.I won't bore you, but I guess what I'm coming to is this:
