In the foreword to her book, The Right Words at the Right Time, Marlo Thomas relates an incident from her young adulthood when she finally got her first acting role but all the reviewers failed to comment on her performance, choosing instead to compare her to her famous father. Although she loved her father dearly and admired him immensely, at that point in her life she wanted to be herself and told him she wanted to change her name.

Her father’s answer to that request was, “I raised you to be a thoroughbred. When thoroughbreds run they wear blinders to keep their eyes focused straight ahead with no distractions, no other horses. They hear the crowd but they don’t listen. They just run their own race. That’s what you have to do. Don’t listen to anyone comparing you to me or to anyone else. You just run your own race.”

Whether the voices come from within or from others, we frequently fall into the trap of comparing ourselves and deciding that we come up short.  All those comments like:

He did it better.. You don’t know what you are doing…That will never work… I’m too old to start over …. 

Someone else has already done it…You don’t have enough experience… I can’t make enough money at this

We allow ourselves to be so vulnerable at times. We work hard toward a goal we believe in, but when the plan doesn’t go just the way we thought it would, we start backing away and doubting ourselves. Well, guess what - the plan will never go the way you thought it would. A good competitor feels the changes in the track and knows when to make adjustments.

So “straighten up” as my grandmother used to say. For many reasons, you are deciding to enter the race to build an ideal life that will be good for you and all around you. You have left the starting gate - this is not the time to slow down. Believe in yourself and do it your way.

 Make this the motto on the bathroom mirror this week:

 RUN YOUR OWN RACE!!