3 Reasons We Should Stop Comparing Ourselves to Others

 

One thing that can be so tempting is to compare ourselves with others around us.

For many of us, this is something first instilled in us as children. Whenever a test came up at school, huddles would form afterwards specifically to allow the participants to compare results. I remember (more years ago than I care to contemplate now!) making the move from secondary school and GCSEs to 6^th Form ready to start A-levels at 16 years old.

There were quite a few making the journey from that school to that college. The first time we saw each other in our new educational setting, there was no ‘Hi, how was your summer?’ or other such niceties. Instead, it was pretty much all curiosity about who had got what grades for their GCSEs.

That competitive streak that was fostered in us doesn’t go away when we leave school or college behind us and move into the professional world. We are always comparing ourselves to the other professionals around us. The chances are that we are making things worse as we are not making a fair comparison.

We Come Via Different Routes

The path to becoming a canine professional is not a defined one. The dog world is currently unregulated, which means anyone can call themselves a dog trainer, even if they haven't studied at all. Of course, good canine professionals who are committed to finding quality education and ensuring they learn from the best. The lack of defined path can lead to doubts about the courses we have chosen to study compared to others around us. 

There are several excellent canine education providers supplying quality courses that give their students superb knowledge and skills to take into the professional world. This means there is not one singular provider that students can go to knowing they are 'the one' but must take some time to assess the providers they are considering. The student is judging whether the provider in question's courses are likely to be scientifically valid and up to date, or if they teach outdated science and techniques, meaning that clients' dogs in the future may be handled and trained with less ethical and kind methodologies.

All good professionals are always continuing to learn, making sure to keep up with CPD and that the knowledge held is current and scientifically valid. This is the hallmark of a true excellent professional. One who acknowledges that they can't know everything and that staying up to date on the best and kindest methods is vital. Once more, there is a huge range of available CPD to undertake, which again makes for a slight variation in our knowledge and approach.

We Have Different Experiences

While many client/dog pairings requiring training and/or behaviour advice have similarities, they will all have unique little details. We often talk about the importance of recognising the individuality of dogs, and that holds true for the people around them. It's also true for the individual relationships that dog has with different members of their families. We all have different relationships with our own dogs - again, they are all individuals.

Every single dog teaches us something - whether they are easy going and easy to be around, or complex with quirks and difficulties (although the complicated, 'difficult' ones often teach us the most). The combination of different dogs we encounter, whether within our own family or social circle or as clients provide a unique set of experiences that mean we will always have a slightly different perspective on things from everyone else. The differences may be minute but they exist, and they have an effect.

We Are Different People

Just as all dogs are individual, so are all people. We are, just as they are, a combination of nature and nurture, of genetics, learning, and experience. We will all look at things in a slightly different way. Show a hundred people a piece of art or play them a certain song, and they will all experience it slightly differently. That doesn't mean that anybody's experience or interpretation is any less valid, but it is informed by those differences.

This world of ours is made up of a multitude of different people, with different faiths, belief systems, histories, different perspectives on the world. With all of that in mind, it's clear that comparing ourselves to others can have little constructive use. Better instead to stick to comparing ourselves to the person we were before, to ensure we are continuing to grow and develop.

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