Social media has made things both harder and easier for us as writers.

On the one hand, it is much easier than it was years ago because we can connect with almost anyone. We can share content and be inspired by what other people are posting.

On the other hand, social media has made it much harder. Why? Because social media by definition only showcases people’s success. We end up comparing our whole lives, including our failures and frustrations, to a partial view of other people’s lives because they only post their wins. (And we all do the same thing, by the way.)

When you see all the wins that people are posting, don’t compare yourself. Sure, you can learn from other people. But your race is not their race. You have your own pace, your own goals, your own priorities, and your own commitments in life.

For example, if you are a young mother with three kids at home and you only have 15 minutes of silence a day before collapsing into bed at night, don’t feel guilty about not getting as much work done as the single guy who probably has far fewer commitments, much more free time, and seems to be accomplishing more.

Here’s another example. Maybe you are that single person who is just getting started and feels guilty because you’re not accomplishing as much as that business writer with several kids who seem to travel all over the world and have it all. They have a New York Times bestseller, an email list of a hundred thousand people, and what looks like a perfect life.

But what you may not know is that her marriage is crumbling and she’s secretly miserable because she has to run herself ragged to keep up with all the demands of her freshly grown business.

In other words, you never know people’s real situations and what their lives are like on the inside. So don’t assume that what you’re seeing on social media is the whole picture.

This is certainly no judgment on anybody’s personal situation because we all have different lives. Our lives are constantly in flux according to our stage of life and where we are in building a business or reaching our goals.

Don’t worry about anybody else. Just focus on running your own race and learn what you can from other successful people. Then, apply those lessons to your situation.

If you keep at it, pretty soon people will be comparing themselves to YOU. And then you can help a mentor and teach them, just like others have done for you.

Question: Do you have a hard time avoiding the comparison game?

The post Run Your Own Race appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

We’ve spent the last couple of weeks talking about several milestones in The Writer’s Path. I want to emphasize again that these are not necessarily sequential in the sense that you can’t move on to the next one until the current one is completed. Rather, these are all just pieces of the larger puzzle of a writing business, and you will continually refine them as you go along.

Today I want to share three primary benefits of approaching your writing business in the way I’ve suggested, using The Writer’s Path:

First, there is less stress because you know exactly where you are and what you need to do next. Many writers get paralyzed because they get distracted by people doing all kinds of different things. The Writer’s Path gives you clarity.

Second, you have clear goals for your business, instead of feeling like you have to do everything at once. This is critical because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things you feel you should be doing, instead of focusing on the next thing in front of you.

Third, you will have less tendency to compare yourself because you can see where others’ success has come from following these steps, instead of just having blind luck or more talent.

I truly believe in what I’m sharing about The Writer’s Path. If you put these principles into practice, they will absolutely transform your writing business and give you a clear pathway forward. Tomorrow we’ll talk about a few examples of people who have used this same framework to build their writing business.

Daily Question: What would it feel like to have less stress and more clarity as you build your writing business?

The post How Does the Writer’s Path Benefit Your Business? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

If you’re alive and breathing, you have struggled with jealousy. It’s part of the human condition.

But for most writers, jealousy is more than an occasional struggle. It’s a daily battle that threatens our very souls. It’s nearly impossible for us to separate ourselves from our creative work. It’s part of who we are.

When we see other writers who we perceive as more successful, or who have something we want, it’s difficult not to feel jealous. The question foremost in our minds is, “Why do they have ______, and I don’t?” (Fill in the blank with success, fame, money, social media followers, downloads, a book contract, or a million other things.)

But this is the wrong question, and here’s why: It’s based on a destructive lie about success. The lie goes something like this: When someone else succeeds, it means I have failed.

When we see other people enjoying their fame, money, accolades, or other types of success, we interpret it as a reflection on ourselves. Why do they get to enjoy success? Am I not worthy of the same success? Why do they get to have something that I don’t?

This is called a “zero-sum game.” When one person wins, another person loses. A positive balance in someone’s ledger means a negative balance in mine.

But it’s a myth. We know it isn’t true on an intellectual level, but our creative egos are fragile. The result? We emotionally interpret their success as a judgment against our own perceived lack of success.

Don’t buy the lie. One writer’s success doesn’t have anything to do with yours. The two things are not related. In fact, you can use that person’s success to help yourself be more successful.

Daily Question: Who is another writer you feel jealous about? How does it make you feel to know their success is not related to yours?

The post Their Success Doesn’t Mean Your Failure appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

You can make a lot of mistakes as a writer and still be successful. But one of the mistakes that will kill both your enthusiasm AND your success is constantly comparing yourself to others.

Granted, it’s almost impossible not to do this as a writer. After all, it’s human nature to compare ourselves. And social media has made it impossible not to notice other people’s success in writing. Whenever you see a friend hit a bestseller list or launch a new book, it’s hard not to feel jealous.

But that negative energy doesn’t really help you with your own goals, does it? When you focus on what you lack, that negative mental energy only slows you down and makes you feel bad about yourself.

Worse yet, what you see on social media is only a small part of other people’s lives. When you see a successful book launch, you’re only seeing the highlight reel. You don’t see the months—or even years—of hard work that went into the making of that book.

So instead of feeling jealous, let other writers’ success spur you on to your own achievements. You’re not on the same journey as they are. You have your own journey with writing. There is no point in comparing yourself, because you either end up feeling bad about yourself, or you feel prideful because you seem to be doing better than someone else. Both of those perspectives will take you off course.

You can learn from other writers, but never compare yourself. Comparison kills your energy and motivation. Instead of comparing, compete against yourself. It’s the only true measurement of your success.

The post Comparison Kills appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As writers, there is a constant pressure to conform to what we think others want from us. This influencer writes about a certain topic and has had a lot of success, so we feel we have to do the same. That writer has a specific style, so we try to mimic it, because we won’t be successful otherwise. Another person we respect just published a book that did very well, so we wonder if we should jump on the bandwagon also.

In the midst of trying to find your own voice, it is easy to get so enamored with other people we admire that we forget what made them successful in the first place: they found their unique voice and the topics they cared most about, and then they kept working at it until they carved out their own niche.

You can do the same thing. Sure, you can learn from other writers, and we all should be learning constantly. But you don’t need to mimic anyone else or try to copy their style. You have your own unique perspective and identity that the world needs to hear.

C. S. Lewis gave a great piece of advice when he said, “Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else.”

If there is a topic or style that you love, there are others who love it also. Never apologize for what you love. You will do the world a great service if you lean into your interests and show us why we should love it, too.

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