The Advantage Of Being Complementary vs Competitive

Could unlearning competition be a more authentic and fun way to success?

One of the biggest things and fastest ways to grow in many aspects of life if to somewhat unlearn what we are taught growing up...

In school, society and even relationships we are taught that there is a limited number of everything...

Limited amount of money, jobs, spots in a school team... maybe even desirable positions in the community or home locations... 

Maybe grades at school, rankings in your state or country...

We are taught everyone is  on some ladder of success measured by some fictitious judge...

This is ingrained into our thinking... The feeling of scarcity... This feeling creates a subconscious feeling then on competition. 

Competition for what?

Success? Survival? Acceptance?

Now competition can be healthy it drives things forward... 

However, what if this was not the only way and in fact a better and greater outcome existed?...

What if being 'COMPLEMENTARY' to others was a greater and faster way to reach success?

And what if that fictitious judge no longer exists and this judge is in fact 'YOU'.

So, what am I talking about here and how does this apply to life, love and income...

What if instead of trying to be better than someone, we complemented what they were trying to achieve...

There is a great saying that my dad passed on to me back when I was a teenager... You Can Have Everything In Life You Want, If You Will Just Help Enough Other People Get What They Want. - Zig Ziglar...

Dad was a successful entrepreneur and I was an eager, non stop ask questions type of child. In car trips, Mum and dad would offer me money not to talk... I didn't want the money, I was too interested in the answers to my questions! 

Basically I had a full time mentor... Dad and I played tennis, golf, tournaments, in team together, bought houses and land together, started business together and I wrote software to manage all his pharmacies which I then sold to hundreds of pharmacies... 

I think this was all before I was 24... and this continued in many shapes and forms until he passed away about 18 months ago.

Self help, business development, strategy and making opportunities out of thin air became my thinking norm. 

Complementary positioning was the huge take away for me. 

What can you create which is a win for everyone... Everyone... 

How might this look?

How would you adjust your offering to the world. How might you show up?

If is different to what we are taught in school... Maybe not consciously, but certainly subconsciously...

I read this amazing book many years ago which helped me see this all around me and in a new light...

The Human Zoo by Desmond Morris - A Zoologists Classic Study of the Urban Animal

In the book he observes the difference of how animals act in the wild and how animals act in captivity. Where captivity represents a scarcity of space, time, mates and food. 

The observations of aggression and competition are obvious and somewhat profound. 

The parallel is that we are those animals in our current urban living...

Very interesting read if you have the time...

Anyway, back to how the first identification and switch can help you...

So, IF you show up with a COMPLEMENTARY approach rather than a competitive approach what might that look like...

The same approach is true in the workplace, friendships, social situations and business opportunities...

How can you help?... How can you help people achieve what they want to achieve?

How can you position your OFFERING to complement them rather than compete with them and how that offer be accepted...

For example... if you have a friend who loves running retreats how can you offer yourself to help them give their students a better experience. Either before, after or during. 

If you have a relationship with someone in business who serves a certain customer, how can you also serve the same customer in a complementary, non competitive way?

For example... If someone has a business helping people plan a wedding... You could offer a product which helps people 12 months out learn to budget, save or make additional income to pay for their wedding and honeymoon... 

In this case you are complementing them and also creating more success for both of you as a result.

Co-creating a greater success... Greater than the sum of the parts.

This is the magic...

I like to call this Alchemy - Fun fact: my business name is Alchemy Five...

I see this as breaking all the rules of competition... Because in this case new opportunities are made. 

New, greater success is possible for everyone...

A greater experience of life, a greater success for everyone including the customer...

In competition I feel it is a zero sum game... a limited amount of resources...

In complementary, cooperative approaches the sky is the limit...

So, where can you apply this in your life?

The way you approach your family, friendships, deeper personal relationships, business opportunities, workplaces?

If you have a business how might you position your offering to be complementary to someone else's? 

It is an interesting and powerful shift... 

Start to dream of what that might look like...

How could your world be different?

What and who would you love to share this ride around our galaxy on earth with?

Imaging if this thinking was your lighthouse, to guide you through this journey of life...

Have fun and talk soon...