Staying Ahead Is Easier Than Catching Up
Learning January 18th, 2010A guest post by Armen Shirvanian
If you want to stick to a continually motivating way to act, getting and maintaining a lead in some aspect can do the trick. This lead can be as compared with other people, or with your past ability, as either way works. Having a lead can provide a real feeling of being in a good place in the present moment, which leads you to make more progress. Here I discuss what you can see as a lead, and how staying ahead is easier than catching up.
What Is ‘Being In The Lead’?
Being in the lead is fairly easy to define in most cases. When running a race against someone, the one who is in front of the other on the track or race path is the one in the lead. From a business standpoint, the one in the lead can be the one with a larger net profit, or more quality employees. For a scientific researcher, being in the lead means getting and publishing certain results before other scientists do. It is usually time-based, but sometimes it can be more about position.
Find Some Aspect You Can Obtain The Lead In
This includes finding out if you already are in the lead in some way. If you can find some aspect of what you are doing where you are already ahead of others, work with that, and maintain it. If you are a graphic designer, and have recently worked for more customers than some of your peer competition, go with that as your aspect to focus on. If you don’t currently see yourself ahead in any category, you are going to want to focus on one specific thing.
Student Example
This fits well for those who are students. In a class with a curve, competition is a big part of the experience, although it is not actually too impacting on grades in most circumstances. To fit with the concept of this article, you would want to put out all your effort at the beginning of a quarter or semester, in order to get ahead of the curve. This can make all the difference in the world. It takes about a month of really focusing, obtaining great early results, and then holding on to the good position.
The big difference between maintaining a lead and catching up is the feeling you have throughout the process. Someone who takes an early lead, and then holds on to it, feels much less stress, and feels like they “get it”. Someone who falls behind in some way, and then is stuck there for a long while, before trying to catch up, feels loads of stress, and can easily feel like they are doing things wrong. They might not even be in that bad of a shape at that point, but it is just like with running, where running a whole race a lap behind someone else is not appealing to most folks.
Charity Example
Let’s say you run, or are a member of, a charity or relief organization, and you want to expand the presence of the charity in your state. With the recent turmoil in Haiti, you would want to start helping, or putting the word out about your charity’s efforts, as soon as possible. Growing a help organization or charity is like growing a business, and so being early to respond could mean the difference between becoming an organization that is referred to on the news, or remaining as a relatively unknown entity.
Once you are quick to respond, and become known as the go-to charity or help organization, all you have to do is keep up your system, and people will start to see you as the main resource. You won’t have to send out as many fliers or phone calls, but this is based on getting ahead at some point, in some way.
Closing Point
A day or week or month of intense effort early on in a struggle or competitive environment can be worth weeks or months of much easier time in the future. If it weren’t for future benefits, there would be little to gain from an early lead, because it would just mean harder work at the outset for no reason. It is those who see this future value that are able to acquire and maintain an early lead.
Armen Shirvanian writes words of wisdom about mindset, communication, relationships, and related topics at Timeless Information. You can also follow him on Twitter at @Armen.
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January 17th, 2010 at 1:12 AM
Thanks so much for this article Armen. I always love your examples and actually have thought of one more. Technology and innovation. Whether its with your own products (like I deal with in every day) or consumer electronics like all the new stuff at CES recently, there is a huge advantage in getting your innovation and technology out first. The reputation that this can build for a technology based company drives interest, sales, great people who want to work for you and many other things. In this case, being first is HUGE!
On the other hand now, I think there is some risk to being first and that you are always breaking new ground and are forced to learn from mistakes first hand, which is definitely not as easy as learning from the mistakes of others. Some people associate a LOT of fear with this and may not respond well or be at their best when this fear sets in, which could be quite limiting to them actually.
Anyway, I am definitely a competitive person myself and so this rings true for me that is for sure… Thanks for the article Armen and I hope there are more examples and discussion from others here!
January 18th, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Hey Mike.
I am glad to have provided it and sure appreciate the opportunity to communicate the message here on Learn This. I also thought of a cool phrase to label the subject of the article, which is: “social momentum dynamics”.
That’s a good example about technology. I’m not sure why it didn’t come to my mind, but it is very fitting. The first person to review a new product can almost be associated with the product in the eyes of some consumers.
You are right about the risks of being ahead, and it is certainly not for those who are not ready for pressure, because there will be pressure applied by other people on the one who is ahead(which can be seen as a test of endurance). Those who are not ready for this would benefit from first focusing on how to better handle their social weaknesses or issues.
Glad for the thoughts.
.-= Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..What You Do Is As Intricate As You Make It =-.
January 19th, 2010 at 12:46 AM
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mike_King: Staying Ahead Is Easier Than Catching Up http://goo.gl/fb/FNhm…
January 21st, 2010 at 7:08 AM
The student example is the one that really got me here. If you’re out the blocks powerfully and dilligently the momentum is easier to sustain later on in the race.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:17 PM
First of all great guest post Armen Shirvanian, I would say that being in the lead is definitely great in some circumstances, but in others its always best to be the one catching up. Certainly though as a student myself, I strongly agree that being ahead of the curve and ahead of the material being covered is the best thing anyone can do.
Till then,
Jean
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:39 PM
Hi Mike and Armen,
In order to be in the lead I need to be better organized and quit wasting time. I’m in the process of reading Leo’s The Poer of Less. Oh and I’m also taking action. I’ll see you at the top! (Zig Ziglar used to say that.)
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 AM
Industry News: Hello to you. That student example sure does have some weight behind it. Those who really push in the early weeks then get to feel great during the whole quarter/semester, while those that don’t push hard those first 2-3 weeks are left scrambling the whole rest of the class time. The start is the important part.
.-= Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..What You Do Is As Intricate As You Make It =-.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:10 AM
Jean: Thanks about the post. It took me a second, but I did think of a couple of cases where it works to be the one catching up. It sure is not as commonly useful though.
Being ahead of the curve is easy is that it takes a few weeks of really being on point, but it is hard because the motivation to do that has to come from within, because there isn’t much pressure early on in a quarter/semester.
.-= Armen Shirvanian´s last blog ..What You Do Is As Intricate As You Make It =-.
January 23rd, 2010 at 10:31 AM
I think the points about advantages of being are really only useful when it comes to following others. Following can make a lot of things easier and you can definitely avoid the risks, but there is much less to gain from this approach and its a lot more difficult to learn first hand experience since following takes so much less effort. From a learning perspective, one must keep in mind there is often much to be learned from others who had led first, that same knowledge can then make leading in your own life so much easier without as high a risk of failure. The good thing for me on this subject, I’m certainly not afraid of failure. I do it ALL the time! 🙂
January 24th, 2010 at 9:13 PM
Some great advice. As a student, i have used this multiple times to get ahead of the class. What really makes it hard though is seeing everyone else slack of while you are the only one really working. Envy can sometimes kick in, but you must prevail. Good post.
.-= David Parsons´s last blog ..Growing and Getting Taller Naturally =-.
January 25th, 2010 at 7:47 PM
Thanks for stopping by to comment David. I think that envy of other’s slacking off is very short lived as the payoffs of staying ahead well outweighs the downside of doing the work before others. Pervailing towards the success is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal!
February 4th, 2010 at 5:27 AM
yes i agree, it also makes you feel special and happy but pain happens when you try to be in the lead and fail