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Where are you comparing yourself to others?
It breaks my heart when people tell me they are suffering from ‘comparisonitis’; that gut-wrenching feeling of inadequacy when you look at someone else and find yourself coming up short.
We know it holds us back and yet, from time to time, we find ourselves envying someone who seems to have more than we do — better market positioning, a better tagline, better dress sense, better hair.
But what (or rather who) are we really looking at? And why, if it makes is feel so bad do we continue to do it?
What we’re doing when we compare ourselves (negatively) to others is we’re actually looking at ourselves and feeling intense dissatisfaction about where we are. We kinda realise this but we might fall into the trap of thinking it’s real, and believing that there really is a ‘gap’ between where we are and where we should be.
I feel this intensely from time to time around my fitness and body. I know other women who feel it around their business. (which isn’t helped by a well-meaning partner or friend asking ‘are you making money yet?’
Sometimes I point out to clients that no-one would ask this question if you’d chosen to go on a gap year to Thailand, rather than start to build a business. It’s completely contextual.)
