#42: Intrapreneurship in 31 steps - 15. Compete With Yourself

Competitiveness is ingrained in everything we do. Even as kids, we are taught to compete. Our lives are designed so that there is some competition, be it sports, academics, getting that much-desired job, or, in some cases, even attracting and marrying the spouse of our dreams.?

Your performance at work is always compared with those of others around you. How well we deliver results determines promotions, salary, bonuses, and assignments to coveted projects. But that approach contradicts what we are trying to achieve as Intrapreneurs.

When we compare and compete with others, we lose the internal focus.

Instead of focusing on ourselves to do our best and keep learning and growing, we spend time and energy on things we cannot control. The moment we start focusing on our colleagues for a job they may be doing well, we lose momentum.?

The competition I am advocating is one of competing with yourself. We all have to come up with work-related goals. Focus on what you can do and how you can improve the current version of yourself.

When you define your competition that way, you will achieve and exceed your external goals. Still, when things outside your control make it harder for you to hit your targets, you will be at peace that you spent the effort and energy on yourself and did not squander it away on areas you cannot control.?

I implemented this approach early in my career, and over the last two decades, I can gladly say that I never felt low or had a sense of failure because I lost to someone else.

The only race I am running is my own, and I can alter my expectations of myself depending on everything else going on in my life at any given time.

I am making progress as long as I am headed in the right direction. This approach also helps you move away from quantitative measures (milestone-based) and into qualitative measures (progress-based).

Not Stepping Away, but Stepping Up

For some, this advice may seem contradictory. Shouldn't Intrapreneurs be playing full out and going after the prize? At work, this translates to more considerable compensation and more significant titles.

Yes, those are important, but not as a goal; more of a result that comes from doing our best. And doing our best can only happen when we compete with ourselves.

We are not stepping away from the mainstream but stepping up our focus, potential, efforts, and, subsequently, ability to produce more extensive results. This is not about evading reality but creating a new possibility.

A Job Search Scenario

Numerous candidates apply for a particular job posting. We do not know who else has applied. And all that is important is that we focus on getting to the next step in the process. The goal cannot be to get the job, as we have no control over that outcome. What can we do to progress to the next level?

There is no guarantee even if we have done our best. It is not just our skills, abilities, and experiences. The final decision is a complex play of various factors, some of which are in our control and many other aspects totally out of what we can do.

If we focus too much on the competition, in this case, we have no idea of who it will be. We lose our ability to perform during the interview and selection process. It even starts much before. From the time you come across a job you are interested, your preparation around doing research, sending the resume, etc..

How to Measure Success?

If money and title are not the measure, and if we must compete with ourselves, how do we measure progress? Are we going forward or backward?

Progress is the unit of measure that helps us understand how far we have come, and it is across many fronts. Here are a few dimensions to consider.

• Capability - Is our ability to work across different areas increasing?
• People - How well can we work with various types of people?
• Learning - Change is happening all the time. Are we learning anything new?
• Influence - Is our realm of influence and ability to drive change increasing?
• Responsibility - Are we gaining responsibility for bigger and riskier aspects?
• Consistency - Habitual consistency builds extensive results through small efforts over time. How consistent are we in our work?
• Network - Larger results need a more extensive network of people. Is our network expanding?
• Discipline - Seeing through what we start needs discipline and unwavering conviction.
• Humility - Determination and courage must be paired with adequate humility to accept feedback and course correct if needed.
• Setbacks - Failure is a part of success. Are we honing our abilities to face more significant setbacks and return stronger? And how long can we withstand and manage difficult times?
• Results - What type of outcomes are we generating outside of ourselves? In our company, teams, and others we help develop?
• Complexity - Where there is simplicity, something complex has made it happen behind the scenes. More remarkable results that impact widely require managing complexity. Are the challenges and opportunities we are working on getting complex, and are we actively pursuing them?

Leadership is not developed in classrooms but in the real world. Most of that change and transformation is internal to the individual.

You do not have to accept this point of view. Try it for a while, and you will see different results. Focused efforts to become better require us to compete with ourselves.

You may disagree with the appraisal you receive from your manager. But what is your appraisal of yourself? You will know where you stand when you measure your progress on these dimensions. And that is the most critical appraisal for an Intrapreneur.

We are our ONLY competition.

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