Benchmarking

We teach all our customers to look ahead and benchmark themselves  against the best in the industry. I was in for a surprise when my 8 year old applied the same concept to plan her summer vacation. The conversation went something like this:

“I want to go to Water Park this summer. Each summer we don’t do anything exciting. This summer we have to go! All my friends abc, xyz, pqr have already gone. I am the only one who hasn’t gone.”

I am obviously not against the idea of going to a water park and the truth is that we have been to many of them over multiple summers. However, that is not what bothered me about the conversation. I know kids have this peculiar selective memory syndrome. I was somehow not comfortable applying benchmarking to personal lives because I have never liked comparing people and least of all comparing what I have vs. what they have. I am sure I could not have explained the futility of this to my daughter. My calculated response was:

“For the gifts we have received in life, let us look back and see how many out there have received none of them. There are children in the orphanage who don’t even have money to go to school, leave alone  water parks. On the other hand, for things you want to achieve in life, look ahead and see others who have achieved much more. Try and learn from them and it will help you make your dreams come true.”

This conversation taught me that it is not wrong to benchmark in personal lives. In fact, if applied right, benchmarking makes us more humble and at the same time teaches us what to do to make our dreams a reality. My only problem right now is that I am yet to find someone who I think has a better life than me! Touch Wood!! 🙂