Have you ever had one of those days where you’re just cruising along, getting your work done and feeling great about your business and life, and then—BAM—you happen to see something on social media or hear something on a podcast that stops you in your tracks?
You see someone in your industry who’s killing it (or at least appears to be killing it) and instantly you’ve got twinges of jealousy and inferiority bubbling up.
Suddenly, your day—which was going great up until now, thankyouverymuch—segues into the research rabbit hole, after you ask your old pal Google to pull up whatever you can find about this company or that person? Before you know it, it feels like you’ve lost all of your oomph.
That type of situation actually has a name. It’s called comparisonitis and it’s so incredibly common among entrepreneurs.
It’s actually one of the biggest obstacles that gets in the way of our own success. Some other common obstacles include:
- Analysis Paralysis: Constantly consuming information and/or gathering data and never putting it into ACTION.
- Competition Cluelessness (not a technical term—ha!): The opposite of comparisonitis, not enough attention is paid to your competition to see how you can differentiate yourself from them.
- Shiny Object Syndrome: Every new idea is worthy of a try at the expense of getting super clear and focused about your path or goals.
- Firefighter Mode: Instead of sticking to your plan for the day, you find yourself reacting to every request asked of you and are constantly putting out fires instead making headway on YOUR goals.
Do any of these sounds familiar?
Chances are you’ve suffered from one or all of these obstacles at some point in your business. But while they’re common, they’re not insurmountable.
Here are three steps for kicking them to the curb:
Step 1: Become aware of the obstacles that crop up for you most often.
It may sound easy (and it is!), but by simply becoming aware of the obstacles you have a tendency to fall prey to, you’re zapping nearly all of their power. Awareness is everything.
Step 2: When you catch yourself, check yourself.
If you know you often fall into comparisonitis when you’re on social media, set up boundaries for yourself. That might mean unfollowing certain people in your industry or becoming very purposeful about what you’re on social media for—and for how long. When situations occur where you can feel yourself getting triggered by something you see or hear, click off. It’s never worth losing time feeling “less than” about. Never.
Step 3: Explore the beliefs you have that may be attracting you to certain obstacles—then rewrite them.
Let’s say you have a tendency to fall into Shiny Object Syndrome. Spend some time exploring the beliefs you may hold that consciously or subconsciously lead you to continue that pattern. Perhaps you have a limiting belief that you can’t trust your instincts or that you’ve never been good at following through. Identify any beliefs that come up for you during that exploration and rewrite them to be positive. I can’t trust my instincts might turn into My instincts are worthy of my trust. Likewise, I’ve never been good at following through might become It’s safe to follow my ideas all the way through. When you affirm these new positive beliefs, you just may see your old habits vanish into thin air!
It’s important to keep in mind that obstacles are common—just like challenges. But when you become aware of them and tackle them head on, they become excellent opportunities to help you grow.
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