Why watch the competition?
What it says up there. Think about it.
Why look anxiously at what other players on the market/in your niche are doing? Will you do what they are doing – only for the sake of “not losing”? Will you do what they are NOT doing – only for the sake of differentiation?
Come on. Let’s be more proactive than that. As entrepreneurs, the world is our oyster. We’re all intelligent and passionate human beings, no? Meaning – we love different things. Maybe we’re more prone, even, to “loving different things” than the rest? I know I’m not alone in finding fascination for new things every day, plucking elements of inspiration and seeds to new ideas from almost everything I read or hear about.
Of course there’s a time and a place for being strategic, and analytic, and keeping tabs on what the competition is doing, and whatnot… but we mustn’t forget that before business plan and business idea, there’s “business spirit” – and that spirit, as spirit always does, lies outside “a time and a place”.
Keep going, ride the spiral to the end… and make sure you transcend and include whatever passes along on your path of inner and outer growth. That’s true differentiation – that’s “integral entrepreneurship”.
So, why don’t we all just make our respective businesses into shining expressions of our own creativity and personality? Let’s paint the world in beautiful colours. Be water my friend, in the face of obstacles and adversity. But by the same token… be fire my friend, in inner resolve to leave your brand, your legacy, upon the world.
And see you at the top. Let’s get there fast, so that we can help more people come along and enjoy the view.
(This post is a work in progress. I’m sure I’ll return to it to refine the thoughts I’m trying to put up there in words. Meanwhile, I welcome your reactions – please leave a comment, share the link, agree or disagree. Thank you.)
Inspiration:
“Be water my friend”