Chris Pearlberg

Being your own fiercest competition has another essential tie in: the ability to set your own standards. If you allow the world around you to tell you how hard you need to work, what you should do with your life, and how to go about it, you may end up feeling disappointed.

I am in no way against looking at whats going on around you, asking questions, and studying with mentors in order to get a lay of the land and in turn pursuing your goals. But if you let others set up the goal posts for you, you will be constantly judging yourself based on what they have done, and that is most likely not what you are going to do or who you are meant to be.

On top of that, having clear and self generated goals in mind will supercharge your productivity. You may finally feel like you’re doing what you were meant to do, instead of what someone else told you, or just meeting up with what the standard may be around you. The experts out there right now are in a time and place. When the next generation of experts rolls around (which hopefully includes you!), the world will be much different. Listen to advice with your ears wide open, but make sure you tailor it to your goals and what the world is asking of you.