I’m not saying competition doesn’t serve a purpose. Try having a Super Bowl where no one wins. Or a marketplace where there is only one brand of anything available. Sometimes we need competition in the world to keep things exciting and in balance.

But what about in your own life?

There has to be at least one person on your path that you must strive to outdo on a regular basis, right?

The co-worker who has everyone mesmerized by his Ivy League education while you’re still plugging away at your undergraduate degree.

Your sibling who founded a Fortune 500 company and bought your parents a condo in Palm Beach.

The frenemy who  prances into the gym baring her six pack abs…while munching happily on a donut.

So, who exactly is your biggest competition? The one that you should be trying to best at every turn?

Look in the mirror.

But self-competition is not a license to turn your rivalrous tendencies inward and beat yourself to a pulp with them. It’s simply an opportunity to let go of caring so much about what everyone else is doing, and figure out what really matters to you (not Donut Abs or Mr. Harvard).

Author  Jeff Goins offers a brilliant piece of advice when it comes to self-evaluation:  “Listen to your ache.” This doesn’t mean to berate yourself because you aren’t as far along as someone else.  Rather, it involves noticing whether you feel an inner pang when you see that person succeeding at something that you know in your soul that you, too, can achieve.

The physical and/or emotional signals may be mild or monumental. But they shouldn’t be ignored.

Here’s why.

My good friend Jennifer Blanchard is a bestselling author of over eight books (fiction and non-fiction), and counting.  I am hugely proud of her, and have always been inspired by both her talent and her tenacity.

But I remember one day earlier this year when I opened my email to see the announcement for the release of her latest eBook. I felt the warm, familiar “good for her” feeling rise in my heart. But right along with my sincere kudos, I felt something else.

A sinking in my stomach, and a voice that whispered, “Ugh. Why aren’t you doing that, too?”

My “authorship ache” was calling to me loud and clear.

In the past I would’ve ignored it. Trotted out my litany of excuses ranging from lack of time to a plethora of paranoia over the oh-so-scary world of self-publishing.

All of my rationale was complete bullsh*t. And because I knew that deep down, the cost of ignoring my ache was very high.

Anxiety. Panic. Stress. Sadness.

But this time, I’d had enough.

I started writing down every single idea I could think of for eBook topics. Some were horrible, others pretty damn good. I had no idea where I was going with any of them, but the point was – for once – I was going to go somewhere.

Not long after that, my aforementioned crazy-prolific friend invited me to attend her online “Write and Publish Your eBook in 10 Days” workshop.

And before I could talk myself out of it, I thanked her profusely and said, “Count me in!”

I’d love to tell you I was completely Zen from that moment on. Never once wondering how I was going to complete the book, or if it would suck beyond all measure.

That was absolutely not the case.  Self-doubt was my constant companion until the day I hit the “publish” button.

But so was an odd sense of peace.

Because even if I never sold one copy, it would’ve been worth it to finally go through the process I’d been dreading for years. To be rid of that that nagging feeling that I was dodging a piece of my destiny.

So, now it’s your turn.

If you have an ache, here’s the bad news.

It will never, ever, ever (did I say ever?) go away.

Unless…

You listen to it, and give it the attention you’d lavish on a child (or cherished pet) that was desperate for your love.

The pain will not merely dissolve. It will morph into something that every one of us craves, whether we admit it or not:

A feeling of accomplishment.

That moment of “I f—ing did it”  that can never be taken from you.

So, stop telling yourself, “The world doesn’t need my (book/film/poem/banana pancake recipe).” It’s not about whether the entire planet needs it. It’s the fact that SOMEONE on this spinning blue orb does.

How dare you hold it back from them?

Heeding the call of your ache is one instance where it’s not a numbers game.  Impact is what matters.

All it takes is one person (or a handful of people) to connect with what you do, and the repercussions can be beautifully staggering.  Your fingerprints will be forever on this generation, and on those beyond it.

But only if you keep your focus solely on your biggest competition.

Run your own race. It’s the only one you were ever meant to win.

But the fact is, it’s hard to improve your writing when you aren’t actually doing it.

So, the other thing I’m always looking for are surefire tips on how to get my ass moving when everything but the keyboard is calling for my attention.

And thanks to blogger Ali Luke’s wise words, I have found a method that works for me every time I use it.

It’s hugely scientific. You may want to take notes.

Ready?  Here goes…

Open the Damn Document (ODD).

It’s so deceptively simple that it’s tempting to just blow it off. Oh, right. Opening the document is going to magically make the piece write itself.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. But the tiny step of putting yourself – literally – within arm’s length of the page makes it infinitely more likely that you’ll get down to business.

And yes, this works when your project is overwhelming. Especially when it’s overwhelming. Because it’s much easier to stomach the thought of merely opening a file than it is to obligate yourself to War and Peace-level output.

I recently had to put this technique into major practice when I wrote and published my first eBook: Gratitude Adjustment: 5 Simple Shifts To Refresh Your Perspective and Ignite Your Life. Even though it was planned to be a very short book, I was still freaked out by the possibility of…well, everything.

You know nothing about this kind of format. What makes you think you can put out a book on Kindle all by yourself? You are such a techno-idiot, you will probably single-handedly blow up Amazon when you hit the ‘publish’ button. And why do you think anyone cares about your take on gratitude? I’m pretty sure the Dalai Oprah has that one covered.

So – being the wildly enlightened person that I am –  I listened slavishly to the aforementioned bullsh*t and proceeded to procrastinate like a demon.

Oh my God…there’s a science project growing in the toilet. I’d better clean it up immediately or else the dogs might drink the water and die.

Uh, oh. We’re out of vanilla extract. And chocolate chips. I haven’t baked since MTV actually played music videos, but suddenly I’m feeling a Tollhouse cookie deficiency. Hey, it’s a blood sugar issue. It’ll just take me ten minutes to run to the store.

But one sparkling toilet and three trays of baked goods later, I was still firmly rooted in my authorship avoidance.

So, it was time to engage in some ODD behavior.

I went to my laptop and opened the page of notes I’d started for the book. The urge to get up and clean something or have a Betty Crocker relapse was still there. But it wasn’t nearly as strong as before.

Come on, you’ve got your butt in the chair and the page in front of you. Just write a few words. Then you’re free to keep your hot date with the vacuum cleaner.

So, I jotted a few words. Which turned into a few paragraphs. And one hour later, the Hoover was still sitting forlornly in the corner while my book took on a life of its own.

Even if you’re not a writer, the ODD principle is still one you can apply to your own pursuits.

Want to become a great chef? Don’t freak yourself out by trying to figure out how you’re going to afford living in Paris while you train at Le Cordon Bleu.  Buy a cookbook and play with a recipe or two.

Tired of living like a human beanbag chair? Skip buying $1500 worth of clothing racks…um, I mean exercise equipment…and start with a walk around the block.

Goethe was on to this concept well over 150 years ago when he wrote, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

Just choose one step. Keep it simple. Then keep it up.

You’ll be amazed where you’ll go from there.