I’m not a fan of competition. Luckily for me when it comes to business, I’ve never really had that gene. The one that causes people to want to beat someone else at all costs, in all things, just because. I do have my own competitive streak with myself though!
In the work I do with clients we start with a foundation of looking at their default energy tendencies in life, and the energies that really light them up and create powerful results for them. The energies that deplete them often fall into the level of ‘competition’ or the idea that in order for me to win, someone else must lose.
Only So Much to Go Around
The energy of competition comes from a belief that there is only so much to go around. We experience this when we refuse to take time to take care of our physical well being, for example, because at some level we believe that if we are not working every moment someone else is getting ahead.
We experience this when we view other people who do what we do as a threat rather than an ally. Or when we compare our authentic message in business to that of others. Even those who have successful businesses can fall into this energy as once you build to a certain level, it can be easy to feel a sense of pressure around sustaining it.
Create Instead
When we are not focused on concern for lack, we can create. What does it mean to be creative? To create is to cause to come into being something that would not naturally evolve.
Creation is a high level energy state. It is not about thinking so out of the box that people stop in their tracks at your ideas! We put such pressure on ourselves about that. Creation can be simply putting together things that have already been done in a way that is unique to you or that causes something new to come into being.
By the nature of it being yours, it will be unique. You have different experiences and perceptions than anyone else, and you have a different sphere of influence, therefore doing something that has been done, but generating it FROM YOU will be a creative act.
A Creation Focus
Here is the great thing about creating. When you take a creation focus, you are by definition not in competition. Because creation and competition hold different vibrations, and they cannot coexist in the same moment in time. Not only does that vibration FEEL GOOD, it also draws to you more effortless results.
Focusing on creating something from nothing means you are expanding. You are creating for the love of it, or for a motivation other than getting ahead. You are creating for fun, joy, learning, growth, love, challenge, excitement, etc. And the money and success is a byproduct.
Create a Bigger Pie
It is typical in business to think about the size of a particular market, and how to get more ‘market share,’ or to have a greater percent of the people who are already buying the thing choose to buy it from you. This is a fundamental premise that creates competition.
What if you were to think of the Universe as infinite, and rather than focusing on taking market share from someone else, you focused on creating a bigger pie? What if the work you do to market your business actually contributed to having MORE PEOPLE come into the market you are in? I am certain that you are doing good in the world and therefore we would all benefit by having more people invest in the type of work you do, whether with you or someone else, right? I’m not saying go out into the world and drag people into coaching or entrepreneurship, for example. But what if you believed that there was an abundance of people who would be interested? How would that change the way you operate?
Last week in my client retreat I saw something awesome take place. Each of them (there are several clients who’s businesses have a similar outcome) committed to supporting each other in hitting their money goal for May. In fact, they even took on a collective goal in which, when they ALL hit their money goals for the month, I will buy them each a massage. If someone misses, no massage for them. This game has created a new context for the month, one in which promoting each other gets them to the goal they want.
I had a conversation this week with a colleague in which I offered to promote her event (she does similar work to me), and she in turn offered to introduce me to someone she knows that I’d been wanting to meet. I know that if someone attends her event or buys from her, they are better off and the business I am in is better off. Exchanges like this, offering to support someone to create a bigger pie for everyone, leave you feeling damn good.
So, who could you promote this week that will energetically increase the pie for your business in return? Now act on it!