What is it that you can do better than anyone else?

Most of us go through our entire lives without asking, much less answering, that question. And yet the answer to that question could determine our ultimate success or failure.

The Beatles weren’t the best musicians in the world. There were better rhythm guitarists than John Lennon, better lead guitarists than George Harrison, better drummers than Ringo Starr, and even better bass players than Paul McCartney (although admittedly not many). So how did the Beatles rise to the top? They did it by focusing on their strengths, on what they could do better than anyone else. And, for the Beatles, that was songwriting.

The Beatles, quite simply, wrote better songs than anyone else. That’s what they did best.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins says that great companies focus on what they can be the best in the world at. That’s a great place to put your focus. So many of us spend the majority of our time focusing on our weaknesses, on what we need to improve. We seem to think that our strengths will take care of themselves, and so we pay them scant attention. But how much further along would we be if we spent the majority of our time focusing on those things we could do better than anyone else?

The Beatles worked on their songwriting constantly. They did it better than anyone else, and still they spent the majority of their time improving their songwriting skills. It’s what sent them to the top.

Take a few minutes, or even a few hours, today and come up with an answer to this question:

What is it that you can do better than anyone else?

When you have your answer, you’ll know where to spend your time.