WHY YOU SHOULD STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS

– ADMIRE SOMEONE ELSES BEAUTY, WITHOUT QUESTIONING YOUR OWN –

How often do you find yourself comparing your own life, successes, blog or achievements to others? Too much. How many times on average does that thought encourage a positive outcome? Never.

We can probably all admit that we compare ourselves to others a little too often, whilst there’s nothing wrong in being inspired by others, finding motivation in others successes, and taking learning from other people’s journeys. What isn’t constructive is constantly comparing yourself to others, and being self depreciating, hard on yourself or feeling negative about yourself as a result.

You can’t compare an apple to an orange. It will cause a lot of self-esteem issues. Craig Sheffer

Today I thought id share a few reasons why you should stop comparing yourself to others and why you should channel that energy onto you. And you alone.

#1 CREATIVITY IS NOT A COMPETITION

The infamous saying ‘creativity is not a competition’ is a particularly pertinent phrase in my opinion, all to often we find ourselves comparing our work wither others, and striving to be ‘the best’, but when it comes to creativity (and blogging too) there is no right or wrong, there’s room for everyone, and what each deem a success varies. So rather than chase others on their journey, focus on yourself, your work and  your ambitions, it’s a far better use of your time.

#2 EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN JOURNEY

We often judge others based on what we can see, observe and witness, but actually what you don’t see is the journey others have embarked on to get to where they are or equally what they think or feel about it all.  From the outside someones life might seem perfect, but the reality may be a whole lot different.

#3 TIME IS BETTER SPENT FOCUSSING ON YOU

As I mentioned, chasing another persons successes and constantly focusing on those around you, means that you’re not putting your energy into you, into your work, and into your goals and successes. The best use of your time, effort and energy is to better yourself, to focus on your goals and journey and to do the best work you can do, to focus on the things that make YOU happy.

More than that, in every aspect of life, the more integrity you have the better, personally, in work, on your blog and in your life … if you’re constantly striving to be something or someone else, you’ll lose your biggest asset that you have on your side. YOU.

#4 SUCCESS IS SUBJECTIVE

I’ve written whole posts on this point (you can read them here), but ultimately success is subjective, theres no one thing that defines life, career or personal success, which means you can’t compare like for like. What’s important to one person might not mean anything to an other. So rather than focus on what others are ‘achieving’, define your own ambitions and goals, understand what success is to you, and focus your time on working towards that.

#5 IT DRIVES INSECURITY

“The reason why we struggle with insecurity

is because we compare our behind the scenes

with everyone else’s highlight reel.”

Of course there can be many positives in seeing what others are doing and how they are succeeding, it’s great for inspiration, for ideas, for information. But on your life journey, on your path to life, love and career success, constantly comparing yourself to others will ultimately make you unhappy, distract you from focussing on your own goals and achievements, and create a constant point of dissatisfaction. Deep down we all know this, but sometimes we can lose sight of sense … we must just remember: 

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” Judy Garland