Comparison… Again.

Good morning fellow makers 🙂 Last night I went skating. At a skating rink with a disco ball, epic light shows and lots of little children to crush if I fall. I’m convinced that shoes with wheels on them were not made for large mammals like myself. Anyway, I’m out there stumbling around (not falling though!) when I see this late 50’s guy in a tie-dyed t-shirt literally skating circles around me. He’s obviously better than me. I mean his shirt gave that away. But another thing that was obvious: he’s done this before. He’s had this experience that I’m having right now of “I don’t know if I’m going to fall and crush a child or not.” But that didn’t stop him. He kept going and now he’s awesome. This thought taught me a lesson about comparison.

The problem with “They’re better than me” comparison is that you get to see all of the awesome and none of the suck.

You see all of the good and none of the bad. All the winning and none of the struggle. But trust me it’s there. Nobody gets through this one without the struggle. Nobody gets to the have good ideas without first having a lot of really, downright, awful, bad ideas.  So the next time you feel comparison coming on, think to yourself “I’m just seeing the awesome.” The move on. Keep moving, keep making, keep thinking, keep growing.

Remember this: If you keep stopping to see what everybody else is doing, it’s going to take you longer to make something awesome. Tie-dyed guy was better than me. When he started there was some dude better than him. In the real world there are a lot folks doing awesome work and awesome things. Don’t let the fact that they’re making awesome stuff stop you from making awesome stuff. They went through the suck. It didn’t stop them.

Happy Friday, yo!

Chris