You only compete with yourself?

I read something on the internet that said "The only person you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday".

Before I rip this apart I want to mention that it does have some merit to it. You have to get better each day, that's a given.

But, what this type of advice usually translates to is "your only competiton is you", which is not true at all.

You look at yourself in the mirror and you see a loser.

Now you strive to be slightly better than the loser... guess what?

You're still a slightly-improved loser. Overall meaningless improvement.

Why would you compare yourself only to yourself? This never made sense to me.

I've always compared myself with the best and strived to achieve that.

Your competition is not you. Your competition is literally everyone else in the market, with the same goals as you. And there are people far ahead of you in the game.

Compare yourself to the best and strive to get to that level.

Step 1000 vs. step 1

Another related bullshit advice is "don't compare someone's step 1000 to your step 1".

Don't confuse "comparison" for jealousy.

Use comparison as fuel to get better. Compare your step 1 to the steps they took to get to step 1000, and see if there are ways you can do it faster, better, or easier. Learn from their mistakes. Outshine your mentors.

TL;DR: Stop listening to bullshit instagram advice. Accept your position in the hierarchy as low and start taking action to ascend the ranks.

Only way to win.