How to Gain a Competitive Edge in Life

Three Strategies to help you win the competition.

All you need to do is to make small daily improvements.

The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare is overrated, but the lesson behind it is underrated. I say overrated because almost anyone knows this fable. I say underrated because only a handful of people have applied and benefited from the lesson of this story.

The story is about a Hare who makes fun of the slow-moving tortoise. Fed up with the Hare’s arrogance, the Tortoise challenges the Hare to a race. The Hare accepts the challenge and as soon as the race starts the Hare leaves the Tortoise in the dust. Full of confidence, the Hare took a nap midway through the race. When the Hare woke up, he was just about to witness the Tortoise, moving slowly and steadily, cross the finish line.

Life is a series of races. The races are not sprints but marathons. In order to live the life of your dreams, you need to win the races that life throws at you.

To become the Tortoise, you need to stand out from the crowd. You need to become uncommon.

Doing so means doing things differently and going out of our comfort zone. It won’t be fun at the start. It may seem like a sacrifice, and you might not see any noticeable changes for the next few days, weeks, or even months. But, eventually, with consistency and patience, you will soon break through from this plateau.

Like the Tortoise, you don't need to do things by leaps and bounds, but rather, you just need to choose simple tasks, simple enough to get it done but meaningful enough to make a huge difference.

The small and slight advantages you pick up along the way will add up. This will motivate you and make you stay ahead of the competition.

Do I need the talent to become successful?

Talent is not a necessary ingredient for success. It can give you an advantage, but it's not required to go far in life.

Angela Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is best known for her research on grit. In her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (amazon affiliate link), she shows anyone striving to succeed that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent, but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls "grit."

Here are three underrated strategies to help you gain an edge in life.

1. Quantity Over Quality

Wouldn't it be amazing if each time you publish an article, it goes viral and gets curated by Medium? Unfortunately, that will never happen, even if you are the best of the best. Not everything will become a winner, there will always be losers.

If you can predict which article is going to be viral or which customer is likely going to buy from you, then quality will win over quantity. But since the probability of such predictions is relatively low, then quantity will win against quality.

In life, everything is a numbers game. The law of averages applies to everyone. If you want to increase the chances of going viral and getting curated, you need to write as much as you can.

The law of averages is the idea that something is sure to happen at some time, because of the number of times it generally happens or is expected to happen.

So, suppose you're striving to write one quality article a week, and your competitor is publishing seven mediocre articles or more a week. His chances of producing a winning article are significantly increased. Not only that, through practice your competitor gets better each time he publishes an article.

Quantity accomplishes two things. First, along the way, you will discover which course of actions work and which do not. Secondly, going for quantity will practice and sharpen your skills, hence improving the quality of your work in the long run.

It doesn't mean you sacrifice quality. It only means you don't strive for perfection. You will never know when you will produce the winning piece. Only by creating more will it increase the chances of producing it.

In my experience writing on Medium, the articles which I never expected to perform well were the ones that attracted the most readership.

2. The Rule of 10,000 hours / 10 years

"Practice makes perfect." You often hear and see this quote, but most people don't fully understand its meaning. They take it for granted and practice only when they just feel the need to do it.

To have a competitive edge, you must perform above par. You must hone your skills and make them sharp at all times. Practice done occasionally will not accomplish this. Only through deliberate and consistent practice will you make this happen and make you the best in what you do.

This is one of the best pieces of advice in life, yet most people don’t follow them to better their lives. The majority loves to read stories about people who practiced relentlessly, like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, etc., and became successful throughout their careers. They consume these stories like a drug that makes them high; unfortunately, most of them don’t take any action to improve their way of living.

How long and how much practice do you need?

John Hayes, a cognitive psychologist, and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, investigated the lives of famous creators like Picasso and Mozart.

He wanted to find out how long it took these creators to become elite in their skills, and he found out it took them ten years before becoming a master of their craft.

Likewise, Professor K. Anders Ericsson, who performed similar research, supported Hayes's finding. Based on the results of his investigation, it needs roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice for someone to become an expert in his field. This was, later on, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell.

You must not take the findings above literally. Long story short, the findings merely tells you that in order to become the best, you must continuously practice your skills.

3. Small Consistent Actions

Breakthroughs are made through small, consistent daily actions.

"Rome wasn't built in one day," again is a common adage you often hear. But because of its commonality, the meaning behind those words is lost in time.

The small actions done daily on a consistent basis will compound into a huge change. Even the smallest tasks which may seem subtle if done consistently will eventually result in major breakthrough moments.

The change may not happen immediately, it may take a few weeks, months, or even years. But once it reaches the breaking point, the change will be massive.

You don't become a runner by running only when motivation knocks on your door. You become a runner by running consistently whether you feel like doing it or not.

You don't become a writer by writing only when inspiration kicks in. You become a writer by writing each day consistently, inspired or not.

You don't become wealthy by spending first and saving only with what was left. Instead, you become wealthy by saving each and every payday then only spend with what is left.

Life's journey is time-sensitive. Since time is both an ally and an adversary, it is strongly advised to start immediately.

Take the races one at a time. Have faith and always remember that the Tortoise usually wins the race.

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