Seth Godin Is Better Than Me: A First Note On Comparison.
The scramble to get on that last spaceship to safety before a killer asteroid hits earth will be hectic. While I’d expect to be towards the end of the line in any case, I can help keep some order by knowing, if nothing else, that Seth Godin should fly before I do.
If the future of the race depends on who leaves or you are selected for flight based on the good works you did here on earth or even if it is just out of consideration for who will make the ride through space more enjoyable, take Seth, leave Ted.
If you don't know Godin. he is the guru of modern marketing. He has taught lots of people how to live a better life in the Internet age, entrepreneurs and small business people in particular.
He's written 20 books in the same time I've written zero books. (Time I’ve often postured myself as a writer, by the by.)
He's earned hundreds of millions of dollars (let me check, oh yes, that's more than me), employed throngs of people, cleared away ground for new forms of education to grow (as I often claim I am doing), and positively influenced millions.
By any standard of life as "an original thinker" or "a teacher" or an "improver of the world and helper to others," he has succeeded a thousand times over where I have not.
Whereas I can do little more than watch YouTube, Godin appears to have no end of hobbies and doings about which he can tell entertaining and insightful stories.
Whereas I feel strongly about the problems meat-eating causes the environment and am thus—mostly—a vegetarian, he has not eaten meat for decades.
Smarter, more effective in what he does, a better keeper of promises to himself and others, there is just no measurement by which Godin does not measure up as I measure out.
By every standard too, so far as I can make out, he lives a better life than I live. He lives with his wife and kids, people he talks about with love but without any sensationalism of false promotion. Even though he is a big deal, that is, he seems like a genuinely decent guy.
I live alone and am a little bitter about it.
So fly him into the future, I'll stay behind.
I say all this because I was asked to write about things I learn from talking to people and one of the things I learn most often is how much people struggle with comparison. Thus, to take on that subject, I thought it might be useful to have a solid case at hand.
Seth Godin? Better than me.
Now what?
I am not sure, but let’s get to it tomorrow.