Focus

...on your race.

Until most recently, there was a lot to do and it seemed like it all had to be done immediately. In fact, some people's "To do" lists became running lists that flowed from day to day. They comprised things they needed to do, wanted to do or even felt that others wanted/needed them to do. For the last category, I'm sure that in the sincere desire to be helpful, some of us would have been sincerely wrong.

Beyond that last category, there are some of us who are doing things because others are doing them - not because God asked us to. I know because it almost happened to me.

I was unwisely comparing myself to others and felt that I needed to do what they were doing or had done in order to succeed in that area of life. Fulfilling my dream of becoming an author is one example that comes to mind. Now there is a sharp difference between learning from others or leveraging what others have done and replicating what others have done hoping for the same results.

Yes, there's a place for competition - and that is competition against yourself so that you get better each time. Even in races where there have to be clear winners, if a runner keeps looking to see (and maybe replicating) what the other runners are doing, soon enough that runner will run out of energy to run the race to their own best ability. 

If you want to succeed in life, you need to focus and run your own race.