“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
I think this is a great quote for those of us who fall into the “comparison syndrome” frame of mind. Someone starting out, say as an author, may be struggling to nail down the words or they get another rejection letter. They’ll look at their shelves, see their favorite authors, and think, “Oh, why am I even bothering? I’ll never be like them.”
But, where I am in my career is totally different from, say, JK Rowling. She’s been writing since I was in grade school. Harry Potter was turned down, I think, 12 or 13 times before it was finally picked up. Where I am in my career is different from some of the people I’ve met in writing groups and classes at the library, regardless of age. I have 2 near complete manuscripts while someone else may have a couple short stories or just have an idea in mind.
And, you can’t write a book and wait for the royalties to roll in. It takes a lot of work to market it, starting at the beginning phases for some people of their writing process. That’s why AuthorTube exists. Writers form YouTube channels so they can say, “Hey, I’m writing this book. I think it’s going to be awesome. I want you to come along on my journey and maybe you’ll want to buy it.”
And, success involves work! When it dawned on me today that it took 6 years to get 85 subscribers to my YouTube channel, while others have surpassed the 100K mark in half that time, I realized I needed to step up my game. So, I sat down, made a huge list of video ideas, and then made a schedule for the rest of the year. (Actual film and edit TBD based on my day job. But, bonus that I love is I get to know a whole month’s schedule.) Then, I figured, why stop at YouTube? Create a schedule for all my social media to build buzz for my books. So, that’s what I’ve been working on and it’s really been going well.
Do you ever fall into comparison mode? What do you do to try and get out of it?