Stop comparing yourself to others
It’s only you vs. yourself
Introduction
“Comparison is the thief of joy” -Theodore Roosevelt
If you are like me, you consume a lot of media related to your interests. When it comes to being a solopreneur, you feed off the success and failure of others who have come before you.
Often times, I will run into other creators who have made a name for themselves doing what I want to do. The negative thinking starts to take over:
“This space is too saturated, I should switch what I'm doing.”
or
“I’m not nearly as talented or engaging as them”
or
“I don’t think I'm cut out for this (compared to others)”
Cancel these thoughts. I’m here to tell you that these thoughts are robbing you of success and happiness. Comparison is something we all do, and we don’t have to look far to do it on social media.
How it happens & how to avoid it
Think of it this way: Have you ever accomplished something you are proud of, only to be overshadowed by someone else who did it better? You write an article about a topic, and it’s your highest-viewed article yet. Then you come across another article on the same topic that goes completely viral.
“Why did mine not go viral?!”
Stop right there. You have just overshadowed a crowning achievement. You just wrote your best article yet! That crooked thief "Comparison" has taken your joy once again.
On Medium, there are people at many different stages of writing. What takes someone a few months could take another person a few years. There’s nothing wrong with that. You can apply this logic to any platform or profession.
Remember, a snapshot in time does not define your career.
Here are some personal tips on how to avoid comparing yourself to others.
- Success = Time + Consistency. Ask yourself, have you given yourself time to develop your best ideas? Do you show up everyday to improve? It takes longer than you think. Don’t compare your snapshot in time to someone else snapshot in time. The time and consistency put in will vary from person to person.
- It’s you vs. yourself. It’s not you vs. everyone else. instead of feeling bad when someone else does something well, we should be happy for them and use their success as inspiration to work hard and achieve our own goals. Focus on improving yourself by 1% each day.
- We as humans are WAY too hard on ourselves. Reduce your expectations for outcomes. Increase your expectations for productivity and self-worth.
Conclusion
Failure is often overshadowed by success. For every success story you see, know that there are 10 failures you don’t see. Success sells.
Don’t allow your joy and achievements to be diminished by comparing yourself to others.
To achieve success, prioritize time and consistency, strive to improve yourself by 1% every day, and lower your expectations for outcomes.
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