"Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

#Rule4 from Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life is my favorite rule and here's why.

Canadian clinical psychologist, author, and professor Jordan Peterson has been?described?as “one of the most influential public intellectuals in the Western world.” He's a big supporter of the Jungian concept "the hero’s journey", in which an ordinary person heeds a call to adventure and goes out into the world to struggle and suffer, only to return with a more complete knowledge of oneself.

In my opinion the honesty and often emotional delivery of Jordan's talks and speeches are what makes his connection with his audiences so uniquely impactful. He enriches people with rules, concepts and thought processes that usually only asks the "individual" to take responsibility for things that they could change, they would change and that they know should change....I believe deep down we all know what these things are.

One of the most simplistic and amazing things about "comparing yourself to who you were yesterday" is that small changes each day can compound into big differences long-term, not only that, but the shortcoming or failures of your "yesterday" can be the catalyst that drives you to become better than you could comprehend over a number of months or years.

I think this gives the responsibility of improvement back to the individual while also making incremental success or change a lot more achievable. It's basically a strong foundation or formula for a personalized hierarchy of improvement. (or more simply, structured micro goals or changes relevant to your starting position)

"Don't overestimate yourself today, but don't underestimate your future self either"