Comparison Is Good

“All right boys, are you ready?” he said confidently to us, with a determined smile.  I looked at my friend Brian, smiled, and said “ok I guess it’s game on with these guys”.

We were on our bikes in a huge event called Ride The Rockies which is an annual bike ride across Colorado.  It’s six days of riding, each around 60 – 100 miles.  And since it’s Colorado that means tons of huge mountains and long uphills.  We were about to start a massively long 22+ mile climb to the summit of Grand Mesa, the largest flattop mountain in the world. 

 

That’s right, more than 22 miles of climbing on a bike, with an average gradient of 5%.  For the fastest riders including professionals that means at least 2 to 3 hours of continuous uphill.  

The guy who just said “are you ready?” was one of three guys we had just met in the past hour while riding.  They seemed cool and we we’re getting along great with them on the flat roads outside of Grand Junction leading up to the climb.  We all seemed equally fit and fast.  

But now it was time to go uphill for a few hours, and they clearly wanted to crush it.  So we started crushing it with them.

Then I immediately started thinking about food. 

 

Comparison vs Pancakes

Ride The Rockies is not a race so there are numerous rest stops along the way, with copious food, water, and port-a-potties. 

I like the rest stops because I like to eat.  When you’re burning about 10,000 calories a day, putting those 10,000 calories back in is part most of the enjoyment. 

It was clear our three new friends were determined to get the best recorded time they could up the mountain on Strava, the wildly popular social media app that allows you to record your rides and compare your times to others.  

As we approached the first rest stop I could see the infamous “Dan the Pancake Man” was there.  He cooks up endless stacks of pancakes on a trailer behind his truck.  

I reminded my two friends that pancakes are good and we should stop.  They blessedly agreed.  We informed our new friends that we were going to stop at the rest stops on the way up, and one of them said “don’t you want to know how fast of a time you can put up on the climb?”. 

Well, to be honest I did want to know.  But just not that particular day.  Comparison could wait.  

 

Sometimes It’s Good To Compare

You’ve likely heard the advice to stop comparing yourself to others.  Quotes like “comparison is the thief of joy”, or “compare and despair” are common.  And we’ve all heard how social media is making people depressed because they compare their lives to the best parts of other peoples lives. 

While I think these things are mostly true, I also think comparison has lots of benefits if approached the right way. 

• Comparing yourself to someone else can be inspiring by showing you what’s possible. 

When you see someone earning and saving way more than you, or crushing it in real estate while you’re floundering, it’s easy to get depressed.  But with the right attitude you can frame their success as a goal.

I previously wrote about Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile.  Soon after he did it numerous other runners did as well, because he showed them what was possible.  They didn’t get depressed at comparing themselves to him, they used his achievement to rise to his level. 

When I look at the fast times on Strava segments in my neighborhood it doesn’t depress me, it shows me how much better I can get if I keep training.  Especially when I know the dude who put up the time.  Usually he’s just an average jabroni like me. 

• Comparison with someone else can also bring out what I call “positive competitiveness”. 

Competitiveness has negative connotations because it’s often associated with ruthlessness or wishing failure on others.  Positive competitiveness to me just means wanting to achieve the same level of success as someone else, but also wishing them further success.  Because if they achieve even more success then your positive competitive nature will spur you on to do the same, and the cycle repeats. 

It’s like a symbiotic relationship of achievement.  When you see someone ahead of you it’s best to say “I’m grateful for what I’ve accomplished, and I’m working on getting to that next level” 

It’s best to avoid using the FIRE blogger with the $5 million net worth and the 6-figure side hustle for competitiveness.  Pick someone who is slightly ahead of you in a certain measure, and use that persons success to spur you on. 

 

Your Past Self

The best kind of comparison is the comparison with your past self.  It’s probably safe to say that none of us are trying to get worse at life, we’re trying to get better.  The only way to measure that is to compare to your former self. 

Are you getting better at saving?  Are you earning more?  Do you find it easier to resist the allure and trappings of lifestyle inflation?  These are the comparisons that you need to be looking at to help you get to financial independence. 

I think it’s almost always good to compare yourself to your former self, assuming you want to improve.  Sure, as we age comparing our physical performance or looks to our former self could bring sadness or depression, so there are some caveats.  But if you approach aging with a stoic mindset you should expect those things to happen, and maybe even enjoy them. (i’m working on this…)

 

Conclusion

So perhaps the title of this post is a wee bit click-baity.  Comparison is not always good.  If you’re a person who is extremely self-critical and hard on yourself as I have sometimes been in the past you might want to steer clear of comparison. 

But I’ve found comparison to my old self the best way to improve, and comparison to others very helpful if I pick the right measures and go in with a positive mindset. 

Those guys we met at Ride The Rockies wanted to spend the whole event smashing it and comparing their times to others.  I’ll admit I enjoy doing that, but there’s a time and place.

After all, comparison is human nature and it’s silly to pretend you can completely cease doing it.  But what you can do is approach it as a tool for inspiration, positivity, improvement, and gratefulness. 

And it might just help you get to financial independence faster.  Just have your pancakes first.