“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
This well-known quote from Theodore Roosevelt is often repeated, but not necessarily heeded.
We live in a technological age that breeds comparison, whether we fight it or not.
Your social media feeds are full of your peers and colleagues showing off the very best of their professional lives. You know what I’m talking about…
- “How I Increased My Facebook Followers by 124871 Zillion”
- “How I got 3123095 Bajillion Page Views and Increased Conversions by Eleventy-Gajillion%”
- “112049 Awesome Templates That Worked for Me and WILL WORK FOR YOU”
It’s easy to get caught up in this “success stream.”
When we see others’ success, we want that for ourselves. If the uber-successful offer us a way in, we’re likely to take the bait.
Unfortunately, that quote we talked about earlier is as true as any truth that’s ever been told.
However, we might phrase it this way:
Comparison is the thief of joy and creative, success-driving innovation for your business.
If you’re constantly comparing your success to the influencers, thought leaders, and gurus, if you’re constantly buying into what they’re selling and eschewing your own creative ideas to do it…
Something is wrong.
If you’re only focusing on your competitor and not your original ideas, you could be missing out on truly standing out.
Take it from me; I learned this the hard way.
Personal Case Study: How Focusing on Your Competitor Can Kill Your Creativity and Conversions
Fact:
To help my launch follow more “proven” techniques, and thus, be more successful (or so I thought), I used to copy “email formulas” and bounce off “successful templates” to create emails to market The Content Strategy & Marketing Course.
I’d use a pasted “proven template” to send infrequent coupons and updates to my list.
The formulas that industry gurus touted seemed to be so set-in-stone and guaranteed — and as a “launch newbie,” I was so worried about not using “the correct formula.”
In doing so, I made a mistake. I left my own ideas behind.
These emails, however, were not converting.
Then, one afternoon when I was exercising, I came home and had a “lightbulb moment.”
Inspired by nothing but a spark in my own brain, I came up with this email:
Guess what.
We had a 4x conversion rate on this email, whereas my past emails that relied on the experts converted zero people.
My single email, written straight from my heart with no inspiration from competitors and no templates, converted 4 readers into course enrollees.
Meanwhile, the other templated/competitor-inspired emails converted nobody.
Take this as a hard-earned lesson:
Make sure you’re tapping into your own brain for creative ideas!
And don’t doubt yourself. Don’t let fear of the unknown slow you down. You’re in the marketing game for a reason – you’ve got smart, creative ideas in that head of yours.
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I recommend that you start finding more “me-time” so you can get out of the day-to-day rut you’re stuck in, and tap into the power of using your own creativity!
Here are some tips that might help.
3 Tips to Stop Comparing and Let Your Creativity Breathe
1. Unglue Yourself from Social Media
With your eyeballs constantly taking in other people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas, you’re crowding out your own.
Step away from your social feeds. For instance, if you usually wake up every morning and check Twitter first-thing, stop. Leave your phone on the nightstand and go make your coffee, instead. Or, read a little bit, take a walk, make breakfast… anything else!
Maybe don’t do this, though.
You’d be surprised at how refreshing it can be to skip even one scroll session during your day.
2. Get Some Fresh Air and Exercise
According to a neuroscientist, exercise could give your brain the creative boost it needs.
According to this Quartz article, “Exercise could make students more imaginative at school and adults more creative at work.”
Refresh your body and mind and get moving. If you can, go outside and drink in some fresh air to clear your head.
3. Indulge Your Creativity
Constantly comparing yourself to others, and constantly following by rote, can stifle your creativity. To help loosen the stranglehold these voices have on your brain, do a simple creative activity.
- Doodle something on whatever spare paper you have lying around (according to Harvard Health, spontaneous drawing has tons of brain benefits, like easing stress and improving your focus).
- Color with markers.
- Write a 300-word short story.
- Go outside and experiment with phone photography.
Don’t focus on perfection, but rather the act of creation itself. Nobody will ever see your efforts, so go wild.
Everyone Has a Unique Story – Let Yours Unfold
A key thing to remember is everyone’s path is different.
Your success will not look like anyone else’s, because it will be uniquely yours – a result of YOUR hard work, personality, skills, and goals.
Is a carbon-copy of success from following an expert’s advice or system nearly as satisfying as straying from the beaten path and forging your own story?
I don’t think so.
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
It can be hard to make your way out of the comparison game to free your individual creativity. If you have additional tips,
