THEY FOLLOW, BUT I RUN MANY RACES — PART V

THEY FOLLOW, BUT I RUN MANY RACES — PART V: RUN YOUR

RACE, NOT THEIRS — Learn from everyone. Compete with no one. Let

your purpose decide your finish line. “Have you seen what our competitor is

doing?” “They have come up with a brilliant marketing idea.” “They are

growing faster.” “They are ahead of us.” Dr. Abhishek Gilara has heard

versions of these sentences countless times, but they led him to one simple

question: AHEAD OF US—ON WHICH ROAD? What if the person you

call your competitor is not actually running towards your destination? What

if you are measuring two completely different lives, businesses and journeys

using the same scoreboard? And what if, while continuously watching

another runner, you have quietly stopped running your own race?

In RUN YOUR RACE, NOT THEIRS, Dr. Abhishek Gilara explores a radically simple philosophy of competition: Observe

everyone. Learn from everyone. But surrender your direction to no one. Through business, family, fitness, leadership, legacy

and spirituality, he explores why blindly copying another person’s success can take us farther away from our own. A competitor

can teach you, inspire you, reveal a weakness and raise your standards, but your competitor should never become your

strategist simply because you are reacting to his every move. This book asks us to understand the difference between learning

and copying, benchmarking and imitation, healthy competition and destructive comparison, because YOU CAN COPY MY

SHOES, BUT YOU CANNOT INHERIT MY FINISH LINE. You cannot copy another person’s roots, history, relationships,

accumulated learning, timing, responsibilities or purpose. You may reproduce what is visible, but success is often produced by

what remains invisible. And when someone tries to pull you down, check whether there is something to learn, correct what

needs correction, protect what needs protection, and then return to running, because pulling someone down does not make you

taller, and another person’s failure is a very poor growth strategy. Ultimately, perhaps the real race was never against another

person; it is against stagnation, ignorance, ego, distraction, fear and the unnecessary limitations we continue carrying from

yesterday. So stop asking, “AM I AHEAD OF THEM?” Ask instead: “AM I BECOMING THE PERSON I STILL HAVE THE

CAPACITY TO BECOME?” You do not need someone else’s medal, lane or finish line. Learn from everyone. Celebrate

excellence. Keep your roots strong. Keep your mind teachable. Keep evolving. And above everything—RUN YOUR RACE.