The theme for this week is: The Comparison Trap.

Comparing yourself to others is natural, and is something we do all the time. The problem with comparing ourselves to others is that it leads to one of two miserable places: “pride or envy. You’re always going to either find somebody who’s doing a better job than you, and you get full of envy, or you’re going to find that you’re doing a better job than somebody, and you get full of pride.” That’s according to Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, who first introduced me to the concept of the Comparison Trap many years ago.

Over the last few days, I’ve tried to help you become more aware of how we compare ourselves to others, and how damaging that habit can be to our psychological, spiritual, and financial well-being.

Let’s turn today to some practical ways to catch and redirect your thoughts and feelings to avoid the comparison trap.

If you believe in God, I think the spiritual example provides the greatest mindset shift that can help you stop comparing yourself with others. To continue with Rick Warren, he states: “When you get to Heaven, God is not going to say, “Why weren’t you more like this person or that person?” No! He’s going to ask, “Why weren’t you more like you?” You can’t focus on your purpose while you’re focusing on other people.”

That bears repeating: You can’t focus on your purpose while focusing on other people.

So today, instead of focusing on what everybody else is doing, reflect on how you can make progress on YOU. What’s your purpose? What are you supposed to be doing today, this week, or this month.

Focus on you.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Tomorrow we’re going to continue with some additional ways you can shift your mindset, so you can stop falling victim to the comparison trap.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

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