Someone Upset You? Don't Get Even - Get Better If someone has upset you, normally your first reaction will be to get back at them and upset them too. But what will this achieve? It will just upset them even more so they get back at you with something worse. You’ll end up with an escalating vendetta that will do nothing but get you in trouble and waste your precious time. We would suggest letting it go and concentrating on your life. Besides, if you want to get back at them you’re going the wrong way about it. Stop trying to bring them down – bring yourself up. Become better than them. Out-compete them. This way you will not only be making better use of your time by improving yourself, but you will achieve your mission of upsetting them back! There’s nothing like jealously to make someone’s blood boil. Competitiveness is a major factor in improving the world. Contrary to what certain groups may think, competitiveness drives the world forward, improving people physically, mentally, and intellectually, and improving businesses, bringing better products and services to the world. You should be constantly trying to improve yourself. We live in a dog-eat-dog world, where we compete for EVERYTHING. You compete for jobs, love partners, promotion, glory, success. Competitiveness gives us the drive we need to get better and improve our lives. In the process, we can improve the world. Have you ever been in a shop or other place of business and thought to yourself “Why don’t they do this” or “I could do better”? The likelihood is you have. There is certainly less pride in service and quality than there used to be. This is where you can take the opportunity to out-compete the company. By doing this you can bring about better service and value to the world, whilst achieving financial independence and incredible job satisfaction. If you’re already thinking how to improve things everywhere you go, then the chances are you will have what it takes to out-compete any company you want. Now we’re not saying just because they were rude to you in your local supermarket that you should open your own just to get back at them (although we’re not ruling the idea out - if you’re ambitious enough go for it! It may be possible to get the edge by only beating the company in one or a few areas.) However, there are ways to take advantage of such a situation. You don’t need to out-compete the whole supermarket, just a small part where you think you could beat it. For instance, if you think their produce is bad, you could open up your own greengrocer’s. You don’t always have to beat them completely, being better than them in just one way can often be enough. Always be on the lookout for these kinds of opportunities. Being competitive is not about being richer or bigger, it’s about being better. Even the smallest entities can out-compete the major corporations in this aspect, and they have. If this were not the case then most small shops would have closed down – but many of them remain open despite supermarkets and large corporations. There is still room for the little guy IF the little guy can offer something the corporations can’t. Imagination is the key. Be critical of everything (but do it silently to avoid giving your ideas away and looking like a moaner!) Out-competing any business, no matter what the size, is easier than you think for someone with a bit of a brain. Incompetence is everywhere at the moment, you should have little problem finding an opportunity to take advantage of. The only trouble you will probably have is choosing a venture. As you should know if you have read any of our other articles, focus on something you both enjoy and excel at. That way you will have a far greater chance of success. Remember the ongoing nature of competitive business. They’ll come back with their ideas and you need to be ready. You can’t just out-compete them once, you need to do it continuously. By loving the enterprise you are in you will have an edge that will drive you to constantly improve. Keep your mind open to new ideas all the time, don’t dismiss anything. This is how the portable music player was conceived. Some bright spark actually thought of removing certain features from a product – namely the speakers – and the rest is history. Don’t be afraid to be different. In fact, it’s not always necessary to be totally different. Most businesses are just reworked versions of products and services that already exist. Think about a current product or service and how you could run it differently. Could a cheaper version be made? What about a classier, more expensive version? Could any features be added or removed? Can the color, size, or design be changed? What about redesigning the product or service for a totally different market? There was a while when DVDs first came out that nobody was making racks for them. Are there any new products out there that have a certain requirement nobody has thought of yet? Once you’ve thought of an idea, you should be able to create it with your own spin, offering a business that is totally different from any other. In this article you have learned about the importance of competitiveness and also some valuable tips on thinking up a business. |