Medicine is a health industry subset that deals with patient welfare. It involves a collective contribution to further the overall state of human wellbeing.

Therefore, medicine is not about zero-sum competition.

Everyone is chugging along an individual life pursuit. Their aim is simply finish the race. They are assured to place 1st/1 player in any case. The point is to make that result as glorious and complete as possible.

There is no race for 1st, 2nd or even 8th place against others. Instead, realise that everyone is racing along a different track.

Some people will be specialists, all of varying kinds. Others will pursue a different path. Others might even leave the field of their own accord. In the grand scheme of things, everyone’s final result is very, very different.

You can’t even carry that many shells. If you have more than you need and it would go to waste anyway, why not contribute it to a passing player who could use the help?

You are living life and defining success by your own standards, partially informed by society but mostly determined by your own meaning of what matters.

People might seem to be lapping you because you genuinely are terrible at what you do, in which case you really should step up your gameplay. But it could alternatively be because you’re racing on completely different terms.

Know where you’re heading, at least vaguely, and drive bullishly towards it. You don’t need to drag anyone else down on the way, because they’re not even relevant to you, not to mention the fact that would be really quite uncouth.

Instead, help out those whom you encounter when you can. Know that they’re heading towards their own paradise destination and it’s most likely to be rather different from yours.

There is no competition. There is enough success and good health to go around for everyone. There is enough positive potential in the world for everyone to prosper, so let others experience the maximum of your generosity while there’s the chance. Just like money, you can’t take kindness with you beyond the grave. Except for what is actually offered in real life, the unused excess is useless.

Don’t let your friends become enemies. Don’t let the downtrodden suffer because you were too self-absorbed to assist them.

Race your own race with yourself and help others along the way. Then everyone wins as much as possible.

Recommended Reading

1. Peterson, J.B.. 2018, 12 rules for life: an antidote for chaos, Allen Lane, London, UK.