A certified financial planner, blogger, CEO and founder of Alliance Wealth Management, LLC gives his views as to why people should simply quit comparing themselves to others. Jeff Rose, who blogs at Good Financial Cents shares his own experience at CrossFit, a strength and conditioning program for military special operations units and professional athletes from all over the world .

Jeff competed in the CrossFit  Open Sectionals, doing the exact work out with people from all over his country. Each week, the participants would compare their online results to see where they rank against other athletes. He speaks of how competitive he found it, and how inadequate he felt because he wanted to be on the top spot. Jeff forgot that the other athletes he was competing against had dedicated their time- day and night to train for that. Their days were always spent in training, and comparing himself to them was futile.

“One of the toughest pills to swallow is when you complete a workout and you’ve given it everything that you’ve got. You give that workout a 110%, yet your score is only 50% of what the top guy did, sometimes less! Sometimes I get frustrated, but then I have to remind myself not to compare myself with others," he says.

In this video, Jeff speaks of those people busy keeping up with the Joneses- those who are working hard to make their house look like their neighbor’s, working harder to buy a car like their friend’s. In short, Jeff’s message is- Don’t get caught up comparing yourself to others when it comes to your home, clothes, cars, the latest gadgets, and the latest iPad 3 that they just bought.

But as a social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson puts it, “comparison is rife with danger, but it’s understandable why we do it. We’re human beings and we naturally seek information.” But why are we seeking this information? To compare and feel terrible about ourselves? Or is it to learn from those that are above us? If it is to learn, maybe work harder and not feel inferior about ourselves, then we are playing this Joneses game well. Sometimes, comparing yourself gives you some sort of direction. However, it should never be a determinant of the decisions you make.

Therefore, do not punish yourself. In words of Caroline Mutoko, ‘what you can’t afford, do without’. Sometimes our comparison is so off the mark. We do not always get the whole picture of the person we are competing with. Heidi Grant Halvorson calls it “imperfect comparison.”

In the above video, Jeff Rose advises us to make decisions based on the situations we are in, not as a result of comparing ourselves to others. We should always find a way to be content with what we have, not get lost keeping up with the Joneses, for to compare is to despair.  “If you have a friend who has a job or career that pays them well and allows them to have some of the finer things in life, you cannot get discouraged if your income doesn’t really allow for it,” he says.