In horse racing, blinkers (or “blinders”) are often worn by the horses.
It is believed that these cup-type devices, which don’t allow the horses to see what is behind them (or often to the side), help them perform.
The trainers believe that the blinkers keep the horses focused on what is in front, making sure they pay attention to the race and don’t get distracted by other horses, or crowds.
For us humans, news, magazines, social media, and a comparison mindset achieve the opposite – these mechanisms highlight distractions and noise, slowing us down.
At the end of the day, even though the human rides on top of the horse, in this area we really are pretty similar.
When we focus solely on our own work or our own journey, we get results a faster than when we keep looking across to see what’s going on with everyone else.
