Beyond reach of the phantom competitor
A sense of unease washes over me and overwhelms me, I am in danger!
Voices in my head start whispering I should work harder, so I push harder towards a goal which is important to me at that time. This could be either personal or professional.
When I look for answers as to why I am feeling like that, I feel like I am comparing myself to others. Which is very logical, we all compare; however, the person I am measuring myself up against is a figment of my imagination.
Imaginative person
This imaginative person doesn’t appear out of nowhere; it’s right there in every media I consume.
- The sports videos I watch make me feel like I don’t do enough sports.
- The financial news I read highlights that I don’t do enough business.
- The scientific papers I read convinces me that I’m not doing enough science. I don’t even do any science for my work.
- The socials I follow show me that I am definitely not pretty enough and certainly don’t have enough free time.
These figments clump together into a phantom person who surfs like Slater, runs like Bolt, swims like Phelps, travels like Bourdain, plays music like B.B. King, runs business like Buffet, and is as beautiful as Rhianna.
Good luck
Obviously, getting near the achievements of any one of these hyper-successful people is unattainable in itself, let alone if you combine them into one person.
In short, what girls have towards their body image, I have towards my entire person.
So what now?
For me personally, I have identified the feeling and become conscious of it when it creeps in. Recognising this feeling, knowing it exists, knowing where it comes from was the first step.
The next step was to actively reshape my information diet, which I believe is a very strong influence. In order to stay focussed:
- I only read papers that contribute to the task at hand. Try not to ingest too much information that isn’t useful in the moment, even though I find it very interesting.
- I stay away from socials as much as I can, I try not to have Instagram and facebook installed.
- I use the minimalist phone app keeps my phone boring and locked.
- I use the “Improve YouTube” extension to make Youtube boring and locked.
A key take away from my working career is that I can only focus on inputs, the results are out of my hand most of the time. The mantra I try to keep in mind is: Enjoy the work, forget the results.
The reason I am sharing this is because my hypothesis is that I am not the only one feeling the pressure from this imaginative person. Do you recognise this, has this person has been wandering around your neighbourhood lately?
May 16 2025