No SucH Thing As Competition

Years ago, a hospital came to the agency I was with, needing a new website. They shared URLs for hospitals in their area and said, "Here's what our competition is doing."

Our proposal included an initial discovery phase with targeted research to understand what makes their hospital unique within their community.

The client rejected the research, saying "We came to you because you've built hospital websites, you're the experts. Can't you just do what you've done before?" There was some back and forth, but long story short - we didn't do any meaningful research. Ultimately, we created a website not much different than the competition, not much different than any other hospital website.

I'm certain the results were not much different from their competitors.

The Comparison Instinct

It's our human nature to look outward and compare, judging where we stand relative to those around us. We see what people look like, how they act, what they say, when they're celebrated, and we measure ourselves against them.

Sometimes it makes us feel good - usually, we feel awful.

The truth is, there are infinite variables that afford any one person their position in life - good or bad. While we can certainly learn from other people's experiences, actually comparing ourselves against others is an exercise in futility - a waste of time and energy. None of us will have the exact same human experience, and we will never achieve the exact same results.

If instead, we identify what is true about ourselves - our own strengths and weaknesses, our fears and aspirations, independent of what is true (or imagined) of others - we begin to recognize what is unique in ourselves and incomparable to others. We effectively eliminate the competition.

No one can be like me.

The same is true in business. Often, companies will obsess over other organizations in their industry. They monitor news and social media for competitors, explore their product features, track their releases, drool over their financials, endlessly comparing. "What are they doing? Why aren't we doing this? How can we do it better?"

Learning from others is one thing. Comparing ourselves to them is another.

Recognize The Illusion

The concept of competition assumes you're solving the same problem in the same way for the same people with the same goals.

But, are you?

No matter your industry or offering, your customers - the folks who actually chose to do business with you - have specific wants and needs, specific pain points. Unique thresholds and abilities. Success in their minds looks different from anyone else's. When you can clearly articulate how you are uniquely suited to serve them, that is when they become YOUR customers.

The better you do this, the better your business.

Seek Differentiation

I've long practiced meditation, lightly inspired by Buddhist teachings. Think what you may about that, but over the course of my life I've aspired to apply these lessons personally and professionally.

In moments of reflection, we can work to better understand ourselves - how we feel, what we want, what we need, and the challenges we face. If we can observe ourselves objectively and think rationally about ourselves and our capabilities, about our environment and others within it, we might be better able to reduce suffering for ourselves and those around us.

That same approach can transform businesses.

Objective research into your business reveals what you uniquely offer. The more confident you are in this, the more honest and real you can be. The less you need to boast or compare. Instead, you focus on what you're actually good at - your unique offerings, your constraints, your limitations.

This is how an independent cookie baker differentiates from the grocery store chain. The baker can't replicate corporate pricing and scale. And the corporation can never replicate handmade quality. They’re not competing. They're serving different customers in different ways.

Deep customer understanding reveals what they specifically need from you - not generic market research, but intimate knowledge of your customers' challenges and vision of success. Objectively recognizing your business reality and true capabilities empowers you to prioritize your next steps.

This combination - your customers' specific needs and your unique ability to serve them - creates something no competitor can ever replicate. This is your strategic advantage. While others in your industry may attempt to copy your output, they will never serve your customers better than you.

Reasons Not To

It takes time, money, and expertise. If you've never executed and leveraged quality research, you've never experienced its value. It sounds magical, mystical, a leap of faith. What I've written sounds like an exaggeration, too good to be true.

Besides, you're watching the stock market, reading earnings reports, clicking through competitors' experiences. You know how your business operates and the customers you serve - been doing this for years! You can point to a competitor’s outcome, learn how they got there, and say "Let’s do this."

Following someone else's lead might get you where they are, but they will forever be ahead of you.

Choose Your Own Path

If you think your competition's customers are your customers, that's your signal.

Stop obsessing about another company’s customers. Obsess about your own customers, instead. Then turn inward. Explore what makes you uniquely able to serve them. Understand your capabilities and limitations - what's actually possible in your environment.

With this renewed perspective, you can audit, plan, and execute strategies that will separate you from the pack. The companies that rise above aren't outcompeting others. They're serving their customers with exceptional precision.

This approach creates massive confidence. When others in your space launch new features, you absorb them from an objective perspective: "That's interesting. Maybe there's something to learn. But remember, they're solving for X while we're solving for Y."

That subtle shift is evidence your roadmap is driven by awareness, not anxiety.

Eliminate Competition

The companies that lead, that innovate, that win? They're not competing. They're serving customers with excellence and precision. They understand their specific business with brutal honesty. They're building from a strategic foundation confident in what makes them not just different, but distinct.

That's not competition. That's clarity.