Everywhere you look right now people want to tell you how they took their business from zero to £100k in 30 days. How if you sign up for their latest course/bootcamp/programme, you’ll be earning ridiculous amounts of money in a matter of weeks. There are posts like this popping up all over our social media feeds and I’m finding it a little frustrating if I’m honest.
Why? Because it’s just not true. No one is an ‘overnight success’ in business and seeing a constant stream of posts telling us otherwise only helps to foster feelings of comparison, negativity and self-doubt.
No one achieves success overnight
They really don’t. When we see examples of business owners who are smashing their goals and achieving things we can only dream of, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking success has come easily for them, when all you’re actually seeing is a snapshot of where they are now. What we don’t see is all the hard work and planning that has gone on behind the scenes, how they’ve been plugging away for years to get where they are today.
Joe Wicks is a great example of this and, in his own words, he’s referred to his ‘10-year overnight success story.’ Joe started his career training in the park, running classes and bootcamps that people didn’t always turn up for, until his persistence and dedication led to him growing in popularity on social media, book deals, running PE classes during the pandemic and being awarded an MBE. Yes, Joe is absolutely smashing his goals, but it didn’t happen overnight. The same could be said of a number of huge celebs, did you know Morgan Freeman, didn’t begin to achieve critical and popular acclaim until much later in his career (he was 52!), and even Lady Gaga was dropped by her first record label.
Remember, we’re not aware of other people’s success until we see it, we don’t know their backstory.
Don’t compare yourself with others
It’s a trap we all fall into sometimes, me included! I’ve got 25 years of experience in the corporate world and yet I found I was asking myself why I wasn’t matching that level of success in my coaching business. I’ve been a coach for 2.5 years and in the corporate world for 25 years and yet I felt I should be matching that same level of achievement. I was not comparing like with like!
We have to stop comparing our day 283 with someone else’s day 10,283. It’s not a fair comparison to be making. The only person you should be measuring yourself against is you! When we compare ourselves with others, particularly on social media, it feeds our sense of self-doubt and imposter syndrome and leads us into a negative spiral. We start applying an unrealistic timeline (which is complete BS by the way!) to our own journey and then berating ourselves for not achieving it.
When we compare ourselves to others, we’re putting our focus in the wrong direction. We start to lose sight of ourselves and can forget our own sense of self. We become so absorbed in comparing ourselves to others that our brain tries to help us out by proving us right. When we look at others and start making comparisons, our brain says, ‘hell yeah, they’re better than me’ and our worse fears are confirmed. This is called the Reticular Activating System and its very job is to filter out what’s not relevant i.e., what you are not focusing on and highlight what you are focusing on … other people!
What is success anyway?
Success means very different things to all of us. What one person views as success might be completely different in someone else’s mind. Take some time to think about what success really means to you. Is it achieving a particular milestone moment in your business? Launching a new service or product? Getting more visible on social media? Or perhaps hitting a specific financial goal? As you start ticking those goals off your list, remember to take a moment to celebrate those wins and feel good about them.
Don’t make the mistake of getting swept up in what you’re seeing other people share on socials, remember you never know what’s going on behind the scenes in someone else’s journey. Who decides what makes us successful anyway? Is it our peers? The media? Or how we feel about ourselves that’s important?
Success is in your journey
Being successful in your business isn’t just about reaching the end goal, it’s about the journey that helped get you there. Think about what you’ve achieved in your business that you’re proud of, things you’ve learnt that you didn’t know this time last year, people that you’ve met and that have supported you along the way. How have you grown as a person?
Remember, you don’t have to be an ‘overnight’ success, success is in your journey and the only true comparison to make is with yourself and where you have come from. Next time you see a post pop up on your socials telling you how to smash your business goals in a fortnight, just keep on scrolling by.
If you’re finding yourself caught up in the comparison trap and are feeling frustrated that you’re not achieving the success you dream of, my Mindset Mastermind could be the perfect starting point for you!
It’ll help you to get crystal clear on your motivation, master your mindset and kick–start some momentum. Most of al working on your mindset builds your self belief, your self worth and helps you remove the need to ‘keep up’ with those around you.
Ready to find out more about how you can invest in you and your success, why not book in for a free discovery call?