Comparison KILLS… but it should give you ROCKET FUEL

[Alex Ficco]

I’m in a couple of different mastermind groups, both of which I really enjoy for different reasons. Both have quarterly in-person events that we travel to.

One group is called ‘PowerRoom’, which is for entrepreneurs from any industry. There are some REALLY high level guys in there. The other is called ‘Wealthy Investor’ - formerly ‘Future Flipper’ - which is real estate education. This group is mixed from just starting out to people doing 300+ deals a year.

Unlike when I was brand new in my real estate journey, I now 100% see the value in paying for not just education, but proximity to other like-minded people or people doing more than you. People like this can be hard to find in your day-to-day life.

Whenever you’re entrepreneurial, or just competitive in general, it’s so easy to get caught in this trap of comparison. Social media has made this problem 10X worse. 95% of the time, you’re ONLY getting the highlight reel on socials. You’re rarely getting the struggles, things going wrong, negative aspects of their business, etc. You just don’t know all the details about what they're doing or what they may have gone through to get there.

Even in person at these events, especially when talking to people that are the same age or younger than you, it's very easy to get caught up second guessing yourself - “Am I in the wrong business? Maybe I should be doing THAT too? How did he figure this out? Why am I working so hard? Am I just stupid?”

Thankfully, I don't struggle with this all that often, but I know that TONS of people do, especially in Real Estate. Just like in last week’s post, there’s a ton of different ways to skin the cat, and they ALL work. Shiny object syndrome is a real thing, and it rears its head even after you’re up and going, doing deals, but you let comparison impact you negatively.

For the people that struggle with this, usually it's an issue with their ‘Blueprint’ - the way that they THINK their life is supposed to be right now VS how it actually is.

Do I wish I was where I’m at now 10 years ago? Sure. Do I always want things to move along faster than they do? Of course. But I also firmly believe that everything that’s happening right now is exactly what’s supposed to be happening. I needed to take my path to get to where I’m at right now.

But having these conversations is like walking a tightrope right? You HAVE to get around these guys to learn from them and APPLY what you learn to expedite things for yourself. That’s how to use comparison in a positive manner - Compare yourself / business to theirs, learn what they are doing, and apply the lessons in a way that makes sense for you. This is USEFUL!

But it's so easy to take the same conversation in a negative manner - Compare yourself / business to theirs, learn what they are doing, immediately want to jump ship completely to do the ‘next best thing’ or feel stupid because they make it seem so easy when you’ve been grinding your dick into the dirt to get to where you are. This is USELESS!

Maybe what they're doing IS better than what you’re doing… but again, we never know all the details after one conversation. We never know the person’s full background. We never know their prior business experience. We never know their competitive advantages or full skill sets.

So what’s the point? WHY put yourself through this cycle? Through this emotional rollercoaster based on a conversation that gave you 5% of the story or information? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter one bit where other people are. It doesn’t matter how easy they make it seem. It doesn’t matter that they were able to do whatever at whatever age. How does that affect you? … It doesn’t.

What DOES matter is what you can learn from them and the nuggets you can pull from the conversation. Hopefully you can give them some in return!

Maybe they're in the same business and they are having success with a marketing channel you haven't tried yet… Something to think about. Maybe they're in a totally different business and something that’s standard in their sales process is unheard of in your industry… Something to think about. Maybe they just said something in passing that sparked an idea to apply to what you’re doing… Something to think about.

What DOESN’T need to be thought about is how bad you are at business because they made more money than you at a younger age. Cool... Learn from it and move forward!

Hopefully that helps anyone that struggles playing the comparison game.