Being the best in something is so subjective

If you think you're the best, you're letting yourself down.

Being the best in something is so subjective. It simply is a self made worth and it just creates competition.

There will always be somebody better than you, even if you're the best. So let's stop the competition here. These are lyrics from the song called Losers, by one of my favorite artists, Robbie Williams. I was listening to it on my way to a friend's house, and it occurred to me how often we tell people, we are the best.

I see on social media all the time where health care professionals, fitness professionals, massage therapists, social media influencers, people in all kinds of professions, use the words, ‘I am the best'. Being the best in something is so subjective. It has nothing to do with what your qualifications look like on paper or how long you've been doing something. It simply is a self made worth and it just creates this competition.

I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. I do want to be the best I possibly can in my profession. I want Diamond Physiotherapy to be one of the most successful clinics. But that doesn't mean I'm the best. What it means to me is that I have built something that people engage with and appreciate and can see the benefits it has for them. Yes, I only want to have the best practitioners available to me. But they're the best to me because they suit my clinic vision, they suit my practice, and they work well with me. There could be better people out there, but they're not the right fit.

So when someone says to me, they've been to a physiotherapist, massage therapist, chiropractor, a health professional, a personal trainer and says they're the best. That's their opinion. When someone says I'm the best, that's their opinion of me. Now don't get me wrong I'm very good at what I do, and all the staff I work with are very good at what they do.

But can we stop for just one tiny little moment and actually remember what being the best means. It means building our own ego to a point where we think we do not need to get better.

If you think you're the best, you're letting yourself down. I never want to think I'm the best. I always want to be striving to learn and be more. There's always another challenge right around the corner. I believe in working with people from other professions with different thought processes and challenging the how and the why we do what we do. I'm only going to get better and that's going to allow me to treat my clients better.

Let's stop the competition and focus on helping the people in front of us. They chose us to help them.

Nicola Robertson

Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist