Jealousy gets you nowhere…
Jealousy gets you nowhere…
…other than further away from where you need to be.
When I first started my photography business, I focused a lot of my attention on the successes of other shooters.
Hour after after, I would scroll through my feed, searching for other photographer’s posts…
...and muttering negative thoughts under my breath.
“How is this person getting work and I’m not?”
“It’s not even that good - and they got paid for that?”
“What about me? I’m better than they are!”
It was a toxic cycle of pessimism fueled by an unending jealousy that revolved around me being owed something.
I was bitter and resentful.
And, as a result, I neglected my own business, which ultimately stalled any chance at building momentum to gain visibility and serve those who could benefit from our work together.
Long story short, it was a big fucking waste of time and energy, and looking back, it saddens me that I fell so hard down that jealousy rabbit hole time-after-time.
But, you live and learn, right?
What ultimately got me out of that comparison/jealousy rut was awareness…
...awareness that the only person in charge of controlling my thoughts, emotions and reactions to the outside world is me.
And, it’s always my choice.
Either I can fall down a negative thought-loop, rabbit hole that can last from a couple hours to a couple days, and get absolutely nothing accomplished…
...or I can stop giving a shit about what other people are doing and focus on myself and improving the work and overall experience I create for those I serve.
After years of wallowing in self-pity, I decided to give Option B a try for once.
It was a good decision.
Shortly after I disconnected my emotional state based on the successes of other photographers, I dove head-first into my own business.
Not only did my productivity level improve, but that’s when the opportunity to serve speakers presented itself to me.
I realized that once I cleared my mind of useless, jealous thoughts, it opened me up to a world of possibilities.
Now, when I see other photographers posting wins on their feeds, I no longer look at them with resentful eyes - I’m genuinely happy for them.
I also don’t take it as a personal affront to my own business.
The scarcity mindset has been replaced with a sense of abundance because, at the end of the day, there’s plenty of people to go around for all of us, and all of those folks aren’t a fit to work with me, anyway.
It’s more important to spend your time focusing on how you can improve your own business rather than bitching and moaning about what you lack.
Long story short, other experts in your space have nothing to do with your own work.
Put on blinders and focus on how you can improve the experience of transformation that you offer those you serve.
And also, spend more time being grateful for all the hills you’ve already climbed to get yourself where you are today. It didn’t happen by magic, folks, so take time to celebrate what you have going for you.
All of that should keep you pretty busy, :)
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