Comparison is Robbing You of Joy

This essay was written for the Makers of Sport® newsletter in April 2016. Monday Musings and Weekend Reads were the written editions of the newsletter that accompanied the podcast; the archived email is on Mailchimp. The newsletter's links and announcements are trimmed here.

Say what you want about the UFC's Conor McGregor (even despite his recent loss to Nate Diaz in which he moved up 2 weight classes), but his track record really speaks for itself. He's brash, arrogant, cocky and at times annoying. The UFC is after all entertainment though. And in single athlete sports, the athlete must *be* the brand. One thing is for certain, McGregor understands the branding and marketing part of the business and that a big part of the fight game is to 1) promote the fights (which equals big payouts) and 2) to get in the opponent's head.

A big reason people trash talk is to target an opponent's insecurities. Everyone has them. When one begins to question their abilities, they begin to not only battle the thing they are facing, but also battle their own lizard brain.

The great thing about sport is that many of the mantras, goals and mentalities cross over to other areas of life. The hard work, stress, failure and persistence all transcend sports. Not to mention quotes in which there are so many great ones.

It's really no secret that Conor McGregor himself is full of quotes, but one his greatest in my opinion is "winners focus on winning and losers focus on winners".

In this connected world of social media, we are often exposed to people's best efforts. We see their best work, their best photos of their best side, their coolest moments on Twitter or Facebook and their humblebrags. Rarely, if ever, do we see people discussing the struggle—the process, the behind-the-scenes, the depression, the anxiety, what it took to get there. Therefore the information we are comparing ourselves with is inaccurate.

"Winners focus on winning and losers focus on winners." — Conor McGregor

I once had a pastor at Lexington mega-church preach in his sermon that "comparison is the thief of happiness". I wrote that down because it really resonated with me. Long before this podcast had begun, it was during a time when I wanted to be creating more, especially personal work; but I was too busy viewing the likes of Dribbble, Behance and reading design blogs to actually take time to sit down and make. I was viewing, not doing.

It's easy to get caught up in seeing the same people in conference speaking circuits, getting written about on design blogs, or featured in videos/podcasts. Comparison is human nature and very tough to get away from. But in order to actually make strides getting to where these people we admire (or in some cases are envious of) are in their careers, we need to focus more on our own work and journey— a journey that is unique to each individual.

There will ALWAYS be someone better, someone more famous, someone that gets tons of the recognition no matter how far you go in life or your career. Steve Jobs himself was constantly comparing himself to folks at IBM and Microsoft, yet many consider him our era's Thomas Edison.

To be honest, "better" is actually quite subjective anyway when there is a lot parity in talent and each project has different goals and different audiences. In fact, I believe most of the industry in sports has a lot of parity in things like Photoshop skill and design execution. I get asked all of the time who is the best designer in sports. My answer is no one. Lists are subjective and meant to leverage each list member's audiences for more clicks or follows. This is how the Internet works. There is no one that stands out head and shoulders above anyone else skill-wise. Rather, there are beginners and there are veterans, but there is no *one* legend in sports design. To elaborate, as someone that talks with the highest level talent in the industry each week, there hasn't been one thing software-wise from any sports entity I have seen that I don't feel like I can't replicate as someone having done this for 10+ years. Being good at software is a time investment thing, not a talent thing. And good creative work is often based on the budget and time allowed to create it rather than ability. Imagine having $1 million and 1 year to create a brand identity for a team? Do you think you could come up with something competent? I'd imagine so.

It is always something else that makes one intriguing as a creative individual—a great personality, kindness, a willingness to share or help others, a lack of an ego (I believe ego is a weakness, an increased amount insecurities being hidden by overcompensating with arrogance, though; there are some actual psychological issues involved occasionally such as sociopathy), an ability to write and articulate, conceptual ideas, problem-solving ability, making others better around you, being inspiring, and a general "something else" other than being good with Adobe software.

So this week as you begin to sulk or are maybe feeling a bit like a fraud, remember that everyone has their own struggles. They just aren't publishing them and telling the Internet the whole story. You know your own story and your own struggles. You see your downside. They have a downside as well, they just curate what is shared publicly.

When you are feeling a bit blue, envious or as if you are lacking recognition, I recommend taking that energy and putting it into a personal creative project that satisfies your own need and gets your own endorphins going. Something in which you are the audience and what others think doesn't matter. Trust me, it helps.

Have a great week, y'all.

Cheers,

Adam