Stop Comparing, Start Creating

We’ve all been there. We’ve all done that. At least once in our life.

You draw something which you just love, or a dress of yours that you just can’t stop adoring or a project that you’d really worked hard on. And suddenly, you see someone else’ work and you feel that your work is not that upto the mark. You feel your work could have been better. You feel your work is not good as compared to the other person’s work. And there is where creativity stops.

Comparison doesn’t let creativity survive. Never.

 “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.”

Appreciate the good work!

Good work should always be appreciated and encouraged but don’t allow somebody else’s good work to hamper your self- confidence. As there is no type or category of good work. There are no specifications or parameters for good work. So, there is no chance for any good work being less than the other good work.

Sometimes, however, we get lost in ourselves. Our own personal worlds become so small and important that we forget what else is out there. We forget that there are 7 billion other people on this planet with 7 billion other combinations of personalities and experiences and upbringings. We become the center of our own personal universe and we define our own definitive truths. We form opinions and become steadfast in them. Who can blame us?

But what’s just as important as managing our own qualities and personality traits is the ability to understand someone else’s. What’s just as important as focusing on bettering ourselves is focusing on bettering our ability to connect with others. And that’s where open-mindedness comes in.

To be open-minded means to remove your personal biases and prejudices from any situation.

Open-mindedness does not mean that you must change who you are. It requires asking questions, being genuinely interested in peoples’ thoughts, and accepting people for exactly who they are, differences and all. Open-mindedness doesn’t even mean that you agree with something. It means you are willing to adjust your own conclusions and take someone else’s into consideration when creating a final verdict.

Learn from others’ work!

Learning is something which takes one to various heights. You should always learn from others. The world has a lot to teach all of us. We hardly know a percent of it. But that doesn’t mean you should start comparing and losing confidence in your work.

Human learning is often concerned with adapting to sequential regularities. Written language, spoken language and even behaviour in different social environments are skills we learn through experience that can be characterised by sets of complex rules concerning sequences of events.

Applying best practice means learning from and through the experience of others. One way of doing this is through benchmarking, which allows you to compare your work with other successful works to highlight areas where your work could improve.

Do not take ideas on rent, OWN them!

I don’t have any doubt on this that whenever we own our ideas, we give our best. An idea is a sort of trigger. Once you get the trigger, you are good to go. That’s why whenever our ideas are original and they don’t have any other source, the result comes off better. When we own our ideas, we are fully confident about them. We execute them with a zeal and try our level best to make them work successfully. It’s the same we do whenever we own anything. We put our best in proving it the best. We show our whole belief in them. And belief is what makes it work. Thus, it reduces half of the chances of failure.

“Working smart means wringing maximum production from your work schedule. It’s coming up with new ideas to bring that about.” Robert Terson

Value your efforts and hard work!

Do not let your self-confidence go down to the extent that you start demeaning the value of your hard work. We all have insulted our efforts because of comparing with someone once or more. Why do you want to compare your uniqueness with someone else’? We all are different as well. We have to show faith in ourselves as well as our uniqueness. We have to respect the work that we have done. The moment you start valuing your efforts and hard work, the world starts noticing them.

You’re capable of more than you know. You can do more than you think. Give yourself a chance. Accept your work with all the flaws. Take your scars and make it a tattoo. It’s then when you have accepted yourself. It’s then when you have embraced yourself in true ways. Now, stay like that Forever.

In the end there always should be a self Performance Recognition.

-      Ms. Sirisha & Ms. Joanna