Compare Yourself to Yourself
You're the only one that matters
I love Mario Kart 64. I think it’s pretty close to a perfect game.
It’s easy to learn but takes time to master. The races are fast and short, meaning you can jam in a lot of action in a relatively small amount of time. The courses are fun and interesting without being overwhelming.
But my favorite way to play it is entirely wrong, and I’ll fully admit that.
Mario Kart (whether it’s the N64 version or something else) is intended to be played with other people. That’s the point of a racing game, after all. To, you know, race. Competing against the computer is one thing, but considering that it could simply choose to beat you by manipulating the game’s inner workings if it wanted to, that’s hardly interesting. You’re supposed to race against other people!
Except I don’t like to do that. Maybe it’s conflict avoidance, maybe it’s the fact that I never actually got that good at the game. I don’t know. But my favorite way to play Mario Kart 64 has always been in Time Trial mode.
Time Trial mode puts you on the course all by yourself. With three mushrooms to boost your speed, your job is simply to record the fastest lap and overall times that you can.
As a kid, I spent hours perfecting my times, nailing the technique of a particular turn or a sequence of jumps on course after course. (Luigi Raceway was my favorite. So simple. So clean.)
The best part was racing against the “ghost,” a representation of your previous best time on a given course that followed roughly the same path that you did through the game world.
(I should note that, as I alluded to above, none of my work here ever translated into meaningful skill when racing other people. When we visit my brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, he and my wife will both thrash me as a matter of course. When we play Mario Kart, I am merely happy to be included.)
I can’t pinpoint exactly why (other than avoiding getting hammered by other players) I liked this mode so much. But I like to think it has something to do with what’s turned out to be a valuable lesson as an adult: the only comparison worth making in life is against yourself.
Or, in Mario Kart terms, the only person you should be trying to beat is a past version of you.
Clinging to comparisons in life will drive you mad. There will always be someone more successful than you, richer than you, smarter than you, and so on. And on top of that, there are so many factors in our own success and the success of others that are completely out of our control.
As an example, consider my podcast, Blue 58. By most measures, it’s very successful. In fairness to me, a lot of that has to do with the work I’ve put into it. The show didn’t grow completely by itself.
But I also started it at a time when the market was less saturated with sports podcasts than it is now. I also have the privilege of a work schedule that allows me ample time for podcast prep and recording. On top of that, I have the means to buy the necessary equipment to even make a show.
I had almost zero influence on most of those factors. Comparing my show to somebody else’s — someone who may or may not have those same advantages — borders on completely pointless.
Instead, I have to focus on me. (Or, at least, I should.) Rather than wondering how many downloads other people get, I force myself to look only at year-over-year and month-over-month stats for my own show, if I look at the numbers at all. Rather than gawking at other people’s content, I should focus on making the best version of Blue 58 that I can. Rather than coveting other people’s equipment (or recording space or taping schedule or whatever), I should remember that I can still make a very good show with what I have.
To be sure, comparing yourself to others is not entirely without merit. Following industry trends is a key part of writing or podcasting; you have to be making what people want to read or hear. But that doesn’t give you license to define your success by what other people are doing. You’re still only in control of one person: you.
So, focus your comparisons on yourself. You’ll find the race track is a lot more forgiving with that approach. Beating that little ghost around the track will ultimately be more satisfying, anyway.
Stuff I’ve Made This Week
Writing
This is probably my favorite piece so far at my new job. I got to speak to a few people about a true legend of the social sciences and his ongoing impact on the next generation of scholars.
Announcing The 2022 Blue 58 Podcast Scholarship
I’m trying something new with my podcast and blog: this year, I’m going to sponsor a would-be Packers podcaster for their first year on the job, paying for a microphone that they can use to record their Packers takes and funding their first year on Acast, the podcast hosting and distribution platform that I use.
Podcasting
547 - Packers Need Help on the EDGE
Change is always interesting, and the Packers are going through a lot of change in their EDGE rusher rotation.
548 - Packers Running Backs are Ready to Star in 2022
The Packers have a deep stable of running backs and they’re going to get a lot of work in 2022.