The driving force behind any self improvement journey whether it be skill or career based, is you. So taking care of yourself both physically and mentally should be your number 1 priority.
Starting a new career from scratch is already one of the most challenging things you can do, so let’s not add unnecessary stress and self degradation into the mix too.
The positive impact of reducing a comparison mindset
If you’re going to do your best work and unleash your inner tattoo artist, you simply can’t be concerned with how you are compared to others. That’s their path. They have nothing to do with you. Here are few ways by which life becomes so much more enjoyable when you stop comparing yourself to others.
1. You actually begin to appreciate the progress that you make, rather than just telling yourself how much less progress you’re making than somebody else. You allow yourself to celebrate victories — big and small and celebrating those gives you the much-needed energy to keep moving forward.
2. Meanwhile, failures don’t hurt as much. You can look at them for exactly what they are — no less but also no more. Before, you made a huge deal out of small failures because you just kept thinking about how much further that put you behind somebody else.
3. When you compare yourself to somebody else, you don’t really focus on your work. All you think about is how quick you are, or aren’t, seeing results compared to the other person. It’s distracting and can lead to poor quality work.
4. There are probably a lot of people out there who would look up to you if you composed yourself as someone who believes in herself and is proud of his/her accomplishments. The second you stop comparing yourself to others, you’ll be surprised to find that you inspire a lot of people.
5. You really cannot be your true self — bring your unique talents and do what just you are meant to do. Comparing yourself to others has a way of clouding who you really are, and what your skills are.
6. When we compare ourselves with others, we often aim to pretend we are something that we aren’t. We want people to think we’re better than we are, so we certainly cannot ask for help because that would be to admit that we aren’t what we pretend to be. Once you stop comparing yourself to others, you can actually ask those who are ahead of you for some advice.
7. Once you free your mind of thoughts of comparison, you can get those creative juices flowing. We are our most creative when we aren’t worrying about something.
8. You’ll enjoy your journey more – Without the added stress that comparisons can bring
9. You’ll end up as a better artist. If you goal is only to be as good as an artist you’re comparing yourself to, or you admire, as soon as you achieve that your standards will slip. Your goal should always be to improve on yourself.
How to reduce a comparison mindset
So the benefits are pretty stark, the million dollar questions is this – how do I stop comparing myself to other people? Firstly, learn to appreciate yourself and the progress you’ve made so far. The fact that you are here, reading this, having taken the first step on your journey towards a dream career means that you’ve already done incredible things.
Ignore the highlight reels
Next is to understand that you’re only ever seeing a highlight reel of other people’s work / lives. Feeling bad because someone who started at the same time as you is achieving better results? There are so many reasons why this might be the case, they may have had more time to practice, they may have had more artist experience before starting, they may have different equipment, they may have had a quiet learning environment without noisy kids to look after. There are infinite possibilities of why that might be the case – without even starting on individual styles of tattooing and taste levels. So stop focusing on them and instead, focus on your own achievements and progress development.
Recognise your strengths
You can be humble and still recognize your strengths, talents and accomplishments. You don’t have to beat yourself up to be humble. In fact, that’s a pretty unhealthy approach, and it’s one of the biggest dangers of comparison living. The more we compare ourselves to others, the worse we feel about ourselves. That’s a dangerous trap we’ve got to avoid.
Celebrate others’ achievements
Constantly comparing ourselves to others leads to us not cheering on the people who are working hard to get somewhere. And it makes it hard to celebrate with the ones who’ve accomplished something!
So, here’s my challenge to you: When a friend tells you about her new job, be happy for them. If someone buys a new house, take part in their enthusiasm. If someone shares some great news with you, keep the focus on them instead of turning it back to yourself. Find big and small ways to celebrate other people’s accomplishments.
