Arrête de jouer avec les règles des autres

In the world of entrepreneurship, most people are playing a game they don’t even realize they are in: the game of constant comparison. We are bombarded by "religious" messages about the right way to build a business—whether you must raise venture capital or bootstrap, whether you need to scale fast or stay lean. These narratives create the illusion that there are fixed rules for success. However, the reality is that the comparison game is one you can never win because no one is "good enough" to beat everyone else at their own game. The only game worth winning is becoming the most unique version of yourself. True success isn't about looking successful to others; it’s about living a life you’ve actually chosen, supported by a business that is specifically adapted to your desires, needs, and personal situation. The moment business becomes truly interesting is when you stop following the established rules and start writing your own. Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of changing their strategy just because they see someone else succeeding with a different model. It is like a skilled chess player switching to checkers just because someone told them checkers is the "real" game. You end up being mediocre at a game that isn’t yours, following rules that don't fit your strengths. In the entrepreneurial ecosystem, people often chase a specific scenario of success without realizing it is just one choice among infinite possibilities. The greatest risk in this field isn't failing; it’s succeeding at something you never actually wanted to do and ending up feeling trapped. To avoid this, you must define your own metrics. Before you try to scale anything, you have to know yourself. You must be clear about your "input"—how much work you are willing to put in—and your "output"—what you actually want to gain. Your strategy should look very different depending on whether you want to be the best in the world, the best in your country, or simply a happy amateur who enjoys life. Alignment between your goals, your sacrifices, and your actions is the primary rule of happiness. A vital rule for any entrepreneur is to never compare yourself to someone unless you are willing to trade lives with them entirely. Don't just look at their bank account or their title; look at their stress levels, their health, their relationship with their family, and how much control they have over their time. Success is a matter of personal architecture. While the world is full of "playbooks," the only one that matters is the one you write for yourself. Copying someone else's playbook is simply applying their solution to your specific problem, which rarely works. Instead, you should identify your "unfair advantages"—the things you do better than 95% of people. These are the tasks that feel like play to you but look like hard work to everyone else. Once you identify these strengths, you must maximize them rather than trying to fix your weaknesses. It is useless to ask a salmon to climb a tree. Don't waste years developing skills that aren't natural to you; instead, incorporate your real-life constraints into your strategy. These constraints are not weaknesses; they are the foundations of your unique game. This includes your "non-negotiables"—the things you refuse to sacrifice, such as your weekends, your health, or the specific type of clients you work with. Your personal playbook should be a living document. You must test, iterate, and adjust your approach over months or years. Don't be afraid to be "weird" or to go against conventional wisdom. If everyone else is hiring a massive team while you choose to automate everything with Artificial Intelligence, you might look strange to others, but that uniqueness is often where the best businesses are built. Most founders lack alignment between what they do and what they want. Achieving that alignment is the ultimate luxury of entrepreneurship—it’s more valuable than any revenue figure. Conventional wisdom is often a trap because it is generic, and generic solutions don't work for specific individuals. We are currently entering an era, specifically looking toward 2026, where playing by your own rules is easier than ever thanks to AI. AI acts as a "digital slave" that allows a single person to perform the work that previously required a team of twenty. In the past, being original was expensive because you had to convince many people to follow your vision. Today, AI supports your uniqueness. While AI can handle execution, it cannot replace your vision, your positioning, or your strategic choices. It cannot decide what will make you happy. Ultimately, the mark of intelligence is getting what you want out of life. If you can't look at your current daily routine and say you’d be happy doing it for the next ten years, something needs to change. Success is no longer just about the numbers you display; it’s about the life you’ve dreamed of. By choosing to be an entrepreneur, you’ve chosen to be a unique version of yourself. Don't let generic rules or the fear of being "different" stop you from building a business that actually fits your soul.