Don't try to be the best, be the only.
This is one of the best life advice. I've written about it in my books (I framed it as "unique capability", which comes from Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach), but it relates to much more.
The advantages of this approach are huge:
- You have no competition (from Peter Thiel's Zero to One), you are a monopoly in being you.
- You are in your unique capability, so there not only is no one else that can do it better, but you create enormous value.
- This has a super positive self-esteem consequences (see Six Pillars of Self-esteem by Nathaniel Branden). You are not comparing yourself to others, but comparing your old self to current self. This increases your capability and confidence (again Strategic Coach).
- And this gives you positive outlook to life, even when the world around is in utter chaos. This is the idea of the Gap and the Gain (Sullivan) - you don't compare yourself to the ideal (goal) - Gap thinking, but you compare your past to present (the Gain - what you gained).
With this "mantra" in mind, life is better, you are your creative and productive best, satisfaction is great, yet you still grow all the time.
As I write books, code, or teach something, it is often based on concepts that were not known before, I invented something and I give it to people through my creative work. So the work that I created is unique and could not have been written by anyone else.
For example with books, there is great value in simplifying, teaching concepts that are already out there, but that's not me. If you read my books, you get something that is not available anywhere else.
It also comes with challenges of course. The main challenge is that if what you create is unique, it is sometimes harder to market. People don't know what they don't know. But overall, it is a better place to be.