Do you look at other blogs and enjoy the content, or do you envy their comments, traffic or subscriber numbers?
I was reading Michael Martine’s blog when I came across this great guest post by Alex Fayle of Someday Syndrome
In many situations comparisons are good (like a runner dropping in her minutes/per mile ratio – you want to compare such things to know that you’re making progress). Problems arise when we start comparing ourselves to others because we stop comparing apples to apples (our past selves with our present or future selves) and start comparing apples to oranges (ourselves to others).
I agree completely and believe these kinds of comparisons are destructive and counter productive.
- It leads to bad feelings in yourself – There will always be someone doing better, attracting a bigger audience, faster, making more money. Relax, learn from others but don’t feel bad about their success.
- Comparisons lead to competitiveness – We all do better when we cooperate, partner, and help each other out. Blogs do not need to be a competition, there is enough attention to go round.
- Nobody is the same as you – You might disagree but, as in the linked article, I doubt very much there is anyone who is directly in competition with you as we all attract our own unique audience in our own unique way.
Point 2 is an important one. Rather than looking at other blogs as competitors, look to see how you might guest post or partner with them.
For anyone interested in learning more about how a blogger can partner up with others, I have a free ebook on the subject that you can download right now.
Concentrate on serving your audience in the best way you can, forget about comparing yourself to others, but do learn from them.
