I have done a lot of thinking in the last few weeks. As a result there are many things on my mind that I’d like to say. I’ll write about one of them.

Life isn’t about you versus the world. Life is about you in relation to you and only you. You can’t measure your progress against anyone else, that would be completely unfair. Your success in life can only be measured from where you started to where you end up.

Everyone grows at a different rate, some more than others. Does more growth make someone a better person? No. Does more growth make someone a stronger person? No. Life is not a competition. The rate at which we learn in life is unique to us. It is the very defining thing that shapes our character and makes us the upstanding citizens that we seek to be.

I have two anecdotes to share.

The first: When I was injured with hip bursitis in high school, I made regular visits to the physical therapist to try to recover. With each visit I ranked my pain for the day. They explained that the ranking methods were clearly up to me and that whatever number I said had no effect on what they did. The ranking merely allowed them to see if progress was being made. I knew what pain I had been in before, but I also knew that I could be feeling much better. With 10 being the highest, I told them 7 the first day. By the time I was done with physical therapy a few weeks later, I was at a 4. I moved down my scale 3 places over the course of about 10 visits. Although the numbers didn’t change much, I felt a big difference in my hips and legs and was satisfied with the therapy. In the end it didn’t matter how much the numbers changed, the only thing that mattered was that I felt better. I saw direct results from the effort I gave.

The second: When I was in the MTC, there was a missionary in my district who was struggling. He wasn’t able to learn Spanish as easily as the rest of us. He got so frustrated he was about to go home. One day as we were working on the computers I saw him get really upset. He buried his face in his hands and started shaking his head. He was discouraged. Later that night I talked to him and asked what was wrong. He expressed his feelings of inadequacy and not being able to learn as easily as the rest of us. He felt like he was failing. I looked at him and said, “Don’t compare yourself to the rest of us. We’re all on different levels here. Just because some of us are picking up Spanish so quickly doesn’t mean that you aren’t as good. Only focus on the progress you’ve made and how that makes you feel. As long as you are doing your best that’s all that matters.” He ended up staying in the MTC and served a full two-year mission, not because of me, but because he eliminated the comparisons from his mind and focused only on his own results.

I have experienced change and growth recently. It’s something that I’ve been wanting but have been greeted with discouragement and doubt when I’ve tried. My progress is what gives me the satisfaction I need to continue learning and growing. The rate at which I grow and the amount I grow only matters to me. Each day I am one step closer to being who I want to be.

Success in life needs to be measured on a day-to-day level.  You can’t hope for things so far into the future that you don’t see the destination. You need to focus on the here and now. Look at tomorrow and then the next day to see results and make your next move. It is the sum of each day that we live that gives us the final and total value of our lives.