Stop comparing your career to others and focus on your own path!

We are living in the world, where success is often measured by comparing to other people. Seeing someone who has achieved a higher position, earns more or develops his career faster, we can fall into the trap of comparing to each other. However, such comparisons are usually unfair and by the way can lead to stress, decreases in motivation or even self-doubt. I will discuss this topic in this article.

Why comparing yourself don’t make sense?

Remember, that each of us has own and unique path. There are no two careers, which are exactly the same. You must be aware of fact, that each person starts from a different place, has different experiences, resources, possibilities and so on.

Good example can be illustrating two students – first student is graduate of general high school with an extended curriculum in humanities. Second is graduate of technical high school with specialization in IT. Both decided to study Computer Science. Despite pursuing the same field, their starting points, knowledge and experiences will be different on this stage. For this reason second student may have better start. However, this doesn’t mean they should compare themselves to each other. Nothing prevents the first student from catching up or even surpassing the second one thanks to effort and the right learning approach.

Taking this into consideration, comparisons simply don’t make much sense.

How to turn habit of comparisons into opportunity to growth?

Stop being jealous or looking at other people’s successes as a work of luck or thanks to having connections. Also stop taking this as a reason to self-doubts. Instead, try to look at such successes as inspiration and proof, that growth and achievements are possible with the right mindset and effort. Let them motivate you to set your own goals, constantly improve your skills and take right steps to succeed. You can also:

🟢 Learn from other’s journey – If possible, you can ask successful individuals about their journey. You will discover, that their path was full of obstacles they had to overcome. If you can’t ask, you can simply look for interviews or articles, where they share their experiences. Understanding challenges they faced can help you realize, that success doesn’t come without effort and setbacks. This insight can encourage you to keep going when you face your own difficulties.

🟢 Use their success as a roadmap – View their achievements as a roadmap. Analyze what steps they took to reach their goals, and see if there are aspects of their strategy you can apply to your own journey.

What else is worth remembering to focus on yourself?

🟢 Measure your progress against yourself – Instead of comparing yourself to others, consider how much you have developed over the past months or years.

🟢 Appreciate your achievements – every step forward, even a small one is a success.

🟢 Be patient and stay consistent – development is a marathon, not a sprint.