Don’t Compete To Be The Best, Rather To Be Unique

Is there a difference between being the best and being unique? Definitely! There is a great qualitative distance. The category of “the only” exposes extra-ordinary, special, exclusive conditions, to the point that for this very reason, it is not populated and has a single exponent.

Is it possible, you may ask, to be unique in something when the planet is populated by millions of individuals, companies, projects, and propositions?

It is not easy, but it is possible. And it is a competitive imperative for whoever intends to prevail and be successful.

In one way or another, all professionals and businesses compete to be “ the best ” at what they do (at least they don’t strive to be mediocre or bad). This causes the category where they are registered to be tremendously populated and have complex dynamics.

On the other hand, and no less important, action in this category conditions visions and behaviors that cannot lead to the state of “the only thing.” Those who compete to be “the best” run along a track that hardly leads to the extraordinary.

Those who seek to be unique must establish guidelines, define models, explore the unknown, and reveal the uncertain, open paths. Tim Grover puts it well when he says, “Don’t compete with others, make them compete with you. ” This it is.

When you compete to be the best, you imitate. When you do it to be unique, you innovate.

The most important factor in this logic is the distinction.

Those who compete in the category to be unique always leverage elements that distinguish them from others. What is different is never the same and tends to be unique. It is a matter of common sense in many respects.

Usually, it is very difficult to do the same thing that others do, while doing things differently is less complex and more effective. The distinction is the foundation of the uniqueness.

Now, the difference (which is distinguished for this very reason) is a quality of nature, it is not necessarily something that has to be reached, In reality, it is an element from which any competitive concern has to start.

All people are unique and different from each other. And although it is often ignored or underestimated, that is precisely where the advantage lies. It is foolish to waste precious energy and time trying to emulate others when strengths can be built right out of differences.

The same thing happens in business. It is easier (and pays better) to look for the difference than to strive to be the best. If the distinction is not clear, the journey is a steep climb conquered by those with the most reserves and resources.

The distinction is the guiding term, “differentiating element” is the vehicle, and “distinguished” is the adjective that describes the state of “the only thing”.

To compete in professional life or business, you must first evaluate the distinction that will be exposed to the market. Make it a differentiating element and obtain, thanks to effort and competence, distinguished status. This is the formula.

The process demands competition. But competition in the sense of capacity, not necessarily in comparative logic. The representative of “the only thing” does not look every moment to the right and left to see how the others are doing, he focuses his vision on the goal. He travels another route.

It is possible, of course, that this “other route” ultimately leads to the same goal, but it does so without congestion or obstacles. That is what allows the distinction. The avenues of competition to be the best are saturated, and many times with tremendously skilled agents. It is complex to travel there. While the route of the different is never congested.

Certainly, as things get better, it doesn’t take long for imitators to appear, but by then the advantage is consolidated.

Now, how to maintain the advantage is already part of another story. Nothing will prevent the distinguished person from having to protect and defend his conquests, because life never stops, obviously, not even for those who are different.

For the only one, “perfect competition” does not exist, he is an exponent of monopolistic dynamics.

This contrasts with the economic premises that have always supported free market theory. But it is completely logical, because “the only one” is essentially a monopoly. And while this is so, it is also an agent that can optimize its performance, because, among other things, it does not need to commit energy, time, and resources to dealing with competitors.

See the case of Google, a company that, for its distinction in the market, has the freedom to behave as a monopolistic agent (this in the functional sense, not in the legal sense). Its growth can be exponential and so can its social and economic contributions. It has the luxury of establishing cutting-edge policies in the treatment of its collaborators and effectively contributing to issues as diverse as caring for the environment.

A company busy competing head-to-head with its rivals does not have the time or resources to contribute to the qualitative evolution of the industry or the environment in which it operates.

The same goes for a professional. While he has to worry about not being stepped on or surpassed, he enjoys a low quality of life and contributes little to his environment.

There are many examples like Google in the business field, all of a distinguished nature: Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, TikTok, Intel, Tesla, etc. Each one of them is a unique exponent in terms of what they do. They may have competitors, indeed, but having built a solid distinction from the beginning, they have left a lot of distance and “scorched earth” behind them, which makes it extremely difficult for them to catch up (that added to the efficiency they have in their management, obviously). ).

An interesting example of the extent and influence that exponents of the unique can achieve is the case of the largest Foundation that exists in the world. One that is dedicated to addressing sensitive issues in the interests of humanity: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is a product of the business performance of a particular institution: Microsoft.

Being the only one not only pays in time but also over time. It is a competitive model that has a transcendental character. And it all starts from considering “what is different” to begin the journey.

You are part of that universe of “different” that populates existence. He has been since the day he was born. There is no one similar anywhere. You have gifts, virtues, and strengths that cannot be compared, so why try to be the same as others and travel on high-traffic roads?

These differentiating elements can be invested in your professional and business projects. They are an invaluable basis for planning the trip because, in addition to what has been said, every distinction on which actions are based reinforces the circuit of satisfaction.

Nothing is done better than what few can do with the same solvency and efficiency. That generates powerful feedback. It has always been true that excellence is a consequence of love.

As long as it is inevitable to do what is right in this life, adopting the criterion of not competing to be the best and rather doing it to be unique seems like an intelligent act.