Introduction
Not for the first time I heard an entrepreneur sharing that something was hard for them and the other person said that they thought it was easy.
That kind of comparison makes entrepreneurship hard because we start to wonder what we are missing, if we aren’t cut out for the path we’ve chosen, or even if we are smart enough to make a go of our business.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
The truth is that when we compare ourselves to others it can steal our joy faster than a toddler can grab a fourth cupcake off the party table.
Mindset is one of the biggest factors in entrepreneurial success, in fact at one point this podcast was called the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast. That is how important mindset is to being a successful digital course creator, but it is a lifelong journey.
Today we are going to spend time going through 3 activities that you can do each week to bolster, reset, and strengthen your mindset so that you can move toward success as a course creator and limit the comparison thief.
Why Compare?
If you are old enough to remember a time when social media didn’t exist you’ll know that while we compared ourselves to others, the temptation was not staring us in the face every time we turned around, every time our phone chimed…in fact, we didn’t have cell phones. I’m probably dating myself here, but you know that comparisons were a little harder to make.
Sure we had magazines and TV, but the in-person comparisons didn’t seem to be quite too harrowing, probably because we saw those people not just during a perfect 30 second clip, but when they stumbled as well.
The reality is that today, we have a lot of avenues through which to make comparisons and we have to manage that carefully. Today I want to share with you 3 ways to manage your mindset that are simple, easy, and free.
Action 1: Limit your time on Social Media
One of the best ways to mind your mindset as an entrepreneur, as a digital course creator who is teaching others how to do something and is by default opening themselves up to criticism is to limit time on social media – often the harshest criticism comes from our own self evaluations.
Yes, I know, most online course creators use social media to build their business, share their offers, and create new relationships.
Those are great uses of social media, but the reality is that with every comment or post you make, you are creating an opportunity for criticism or negative self-evaluation. You are also opening yourself up to the possibility that you are seeing posts from people who haven’t been entrepreneurs as long as you have been and they say they are more profitable, that something is easy peasy that you’ve been struggling with. This all creates an opportunity for you to open your mind up to be harsh with yourself. To start comparing yourself and your journey to others.
And the reality is that you can’t compare apples to oranges. They are both fruits, but that is the end of the similarities. You never know what is going on behind the scenes in a business or why someone makes the decisions they do. You may not know that they have been a marketing whiz for 30 years and even though they are a brand new course creator, they are, in reality, pulling on 30 years of experience in marketing their course. You don’t know if someone is making a lot because they are working 80 hours a week and you are only able or willing to work 20 hours a week.
When we limit our time on social media, the opportunity for comparison is, be default, limited.
So how do you use social media effectively as a course creator and what should you do with the extra time you’ve found as a result of limiting your time on social media?
Let’s dig into that for a moment. First up, how do you use social media in an effective, but time limited way to boost your business without tanking your mindset? Set a time limit for each day. That might be 15 minutes, three times a day. It could be once a day for 30 minutes. Or it might be 0 minutes on the weekend and 10 minutes a day Monday-Friday. There are options here. The key is to choose something and give it a try. The beauty of our online world is that our phones and apps can help us to set limits. Set a timer or alarm that goes off after your allotted time and commit to shifting gears.
When you are using your allotted social media minutes, have a list of things that you’d like to do. I use a paper planner for my life and business and at the beginning of each week I write down which groups and forums I want to spend time in each day. We are all a part of a lot of social media groups and it can be tough to keep track of them all and use them effectively. I find that by mapping out where I want to be throughout the week, I make a lot more use of those groups than if I just happened upon a post while scrolling mindlessly. Another trick is to decide which time slots will be devoted to searching out new accounts and connecting with them. This allows you to continue growing your following, but in a strategic way.
Again, the goal is to limit the time you spend on social media as a way to safeguard your mindset. Think about the fact that we don’t want teens and preteens to have social media accounts. It is because of the impact it has on your brain and self-esteem, at least in part. These same things happen to adults. There is nothing wrong, and everything is right with limiting that time on social media.
If you are ready to go all in on this approach, you could even delete social media from your phone and commit to only engaging on a computer so that you don’t get sucked into the mindless scroll in every in-between moment.
Action 2: Review Positive Reviews
If just staying off social media was enough to create a cushion around our mental well-being as an entrepreneur, we would probably have a much easier time making that happen. Just staying off social media isn’t enough, we have to do something else as well.
We need to surround ourselves with reminders of the good we’ve done. Every week, my kiddo has orchestra rehearsal at a local college. I stay to work and inevitably have a snack. So after I eat my snack I run to the restroom to wash my hands. And you know what is on the mirrors? Affirmations.
Affirmations take many forms, they might be ones like I see on the post it notes in that restroom, like you are enough. You are loved. Or they can take on a more specific format.
What I’m advocating here is the more specific reminder of the good we’ve done as a course creator, as an entrepreneur. This is where we have to be on the lookout for the good. When you are talking with a student and they thank you for your course, for that email that resonated, or something else, capture it. If you have a recording of that conversation, grab that snippet and put it in a folder on your computer. If you received an email, grab a screenshot and put it in that folder. If you had a text or DM conversation, a Facebook interaction, a review you know what I’m going to say. Grab a copy of that and put it in the folder. This is your positive reviews folder on your computer.
This folder is where you are going to go every morning or at least once a week and read through some of the comments you’ve received.
Why do this? Because when we compare ourselves to other people it can be hard to remember that we are doing good. When we are stuck in the muck of developing our course it feels like we will never make a difference. And when we are just in need of a boost, it can be hard to get that boost when we are solopreneurs.
This is why it is so important to notice the little things that show you are appreciated. It could be the simple, “thank you” that a private client says as you sign off a call. It could be the text message from a client checking in to make sure you are ok after a hurricane comes through your town. These things are easy to overlook, but show that we are doing good in the world.
Schedule time to remind yourself of the difference you are making. And if you are at the very beginning of your journey, think about the people you’ve helped in the past and how that has felt. Jot down those moments and revisit them.
Action 3: Revisit Your Strengths
And speaking of revisiting those good moments, the moments then you’ve done good for and with someone else, we also need to regularly revisit our strengths.
When we are in the whirlwind of entrepreneurship there are going to be things that come easily and things that feel like a trek up Mt. Everest without any training. We all have strengths and areas for growth.
And we need to stay in tune with our strengths. This serves two purposes, first it lets us know that we do have strengths even if we are currently struggling with something really hard. Secondly, it helps us to know when to outsource something. If you are stuck on a task that is just baffling you and it is way outside your strength set, it might make sense to outsource it to someone who has that task in their strength set. You can safeguard your well-being and your progress by asking for help.
Action Item
Now, remember that story I opened the podcast with today? The one where I shared that I overheard one entrepreneur mention how hard a task was and the other shared that they didn’t find it hard at all? This is the perfect example of how our three actions can act as a safeguard to keep us as entrepreneurs from feeling like we are missing the boat, degrading ourselves for not getting it on the first try, or just feeling defeated.
That person could make sure that they are limiting their time in venues that create open criticism or the possibility for negative self-evaluation that is not necessary. We have a rule in our house. Before you speak, ask yourself, is this kind, is it necessary, and is it true. If you can’t answer yes to all three, it might be something that you are better off keeping to yourself. Or, if you are speaking to yourself, ask yourself these three questions and it doesn’t pass the test, stop that internal monologue!
Next up, reviewing positive reviews can help this person to remember that even though this particular task is feeling tough right now, they are making a difference. And finally, when they revisit their strengths they can reaffirm that they are good at many things and maybe one of those strengths can help support this task where they are struggling. Or perhaps it gives them the freedom to recognize this is a task better outsourced.
This brings me to my favorite part of the episode each week and that is the action item. What will you do this week to mind your mindset and really take an active role in safeguarding your mindset so that you can continue to show up as a course creator for the people who need your wisdom, knowledge, and experience?
Will you limit your time on social media? I just removed Facebook from my phone and it has really helped me to stay focused when I’m on that platform.
Will you take time to gather and review positive reviews about yourself? Or will you revisit your strengths? If you aren’t quite sure of your strengths or you struggle with identifying them, stick around because I’ll share my favorite way to tackle that task in just a moment.
Regardless of how you choose to avoid comparison or at least limit negative self-evaluation, the key is to be aware of the challenge. This is not to say that you shouldn’t be honest with yourself or recognize the areas that need improvement, just a reminder that we don’t need to be perfect or expect perfection of ourselves or others.
Sixty-Second Solution
One big piece of protecting our self-esteem and creating positive self-talk that is honest and uplifting at the same time is to know our strengths. Unfortunately, most of us stink at knowing what our strengths are and listing them with confidence.
In fact, I have met very few people who can do this off the cuff unless they have really done some work to identify their strengths. If you are in this boat of not knowing what your strengths are, I highly recommend checking out the Clifton Strengths measure. This used to be known as the Clifton Strengths Finder.
For about $25 you can find out your top 5 strengths and for $60 you can find out your top 34 strengths. This is something that I’ve personally found helpful in understanding why I think and work the way I do as well as why certain pieces of my business are easier for me to do and work through while others just feel like I’m wading through quicksand.
This is a great, research backed, measure that might give you some new insights or confirm what you already knew about your strengths. Either way, it is always good to have a clear understanding of your strengths.
Where to Go Next?
As we’ve been talking about today, comparison is the thief of joy and as entrepreneurs, especially in the digital space, we have to be mindful of comparisons and the self-criticism that can often happen as a result.
We talked through three actions you can take to help safeguard your mindset and how to carry out those actions regardless of where you are in your business. Now it is up to you to take action. Regardless of what you focus on this week, whether it is one, two, or all three actions, I’d love to know how you are taking care of your mental well-being as an entrepreneur. Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram and let me know your favorite technique for safeguarding your self-esteem, keeping away comparisons, and finding your groove.
And if you are looking to take the next steps in your business and really level up your mindset, check out Episode 152: Mindset: 3 Questions to Ask Yourself and Episode 148: Mindset: 3 Ideas for Taking Action When You Don’t Know The Next Step To Take As An Entrepreneur.
If you found this episode helpful, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you are listening to this podcast. It really means a lot to me as a podcaster and entrepreneur and helps me to know what you’ve found most helpful so that I can create more content that resonates with you.
Until next time, happy creating!
