I am constantly comparing myself to other writers.

I compare how many books I’ve written, how many reviews, how much I’ve earned.

You’d think after 15 years of writing professionally, I would have learned by now that comparisons like these are never very helpful.

Sure, comparing yourself to other writers can be a way to see what’s possible. It can be a way to set goals, and reach for higher targets.

But it can also be a way of forgetting who you are, why you do what you do, and find yourself always trying to run on someone else’s track.

I think comparing ourselves to others is a natural human instinct. I imagine it’s got something to do with that primal social animal part of our brains that still thinks we’re huddling together in caves, trying not to freeze or get eaten.

This is why I think it’s actually impossible (for a lot of us at least) to STOP comparing ourselves to other people in whatever context.

Because I’ve certainly tried very hard to stop and truly do know better. And yet…

I might not have learned how to stop comparing myself to other writers, but I have learned one valuable thing that helps me keep these constant comparisons from destroying me.

Compare yourself to yourself. 

Reflect on the last year (or another set period) of your writing life. Look at how far you’ve come in your writing, your creativity, your life. 

Metrics like sales, reviews, and followers are rarely truly in our control, so look at other growth factors that you can influence.

Did you write more this month than last?

Did you write something with deep value?

Did you get closer to finishing your book?

Did you learn something?

Did you learn something about yourself?

Did you learn something about the publishing industry, or marketing, or some other author business area?

How far are you from the little author who, with starry-eyed enthusiasm dreamed that they would one day be a writer?

How far have you come along your own path, not how far away are you from someone else’s path?