How to stop comparing yourself to others' success

Do you ever look at someone in your field who you think is successful and think, “I need to change my work to look more like theirs so I can be successful too”? You know that horrible feeling when you start comparing your work to theirs and even if they have a completely different style, you start thinking that yours is just not good enough?

I’m here to tell you that it’s completely in your mind (actually I should say ‘our minds’ because I suffer from this too). But we already know this right? We already know that feeling crappy about ourselves won’t get us anywhere - it’ll only make us doubt ourselves and indulge in chocolate/ Netflix/ whatever, to feel better.

So what do we do then?

We train our minds.

We train our minds to not wallow in self-pity. Every time we find ourselves playing the comparison game, we stop and we refocus our attention on our immediate goals. We then have to force ourselves to take action, there and then, on achieving those goals. It’s only through the satisfaction of achieving our own goals, which gives us purpose, that the distraction of other people’s success starts dimming into the background.

It ain’t easy.

Our minds like us to take the easy route. It likes comfort and security. It doesn’t want us to exert more effort than it wants us to. But, like our bodies, our minds are trainable. We can train our mental willpower to become stronger. If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that it’s a constant struggle but it does get easier! And the results will be well worth the struggle.