It's not a race -

“I’m falling behind.”

Behind what?

“My friend has more followers than I do.”

And that means what?

“I don’t write/publish/sell as much/fast as X.”

How is this important to your business?

I’m not trying to be harsh, but it really doesn’t matter what other people do or don’t do.

Creating isn’t a race.

Whether you start at twelve or eighty-two you begin a journey on your own path. A path that has room for only one person—you.

No one is behind you, no one is in front of you.

It has hills and valleys, raging rivers and calm streams. You’ll see others and you can wave to them, but they are all on their own paths. They are never on yours. Sometimes their path may looks like it’s parallel, but it’s an illusion. Their paths are vastly different than yours.

I’m saying this in order to free you. You’re job is to always try to outdo yourself, that’s all. I’m not talking about creating challenges with friends, like writing a story a week or a poem a day, that can be fuel. Games are fun.

But turning that fun writing challenge into a competitive sport?

That opens you up to something dangerous.

Because buried deep in the core of competition (the idea of winners and losers) is the most dangerous trap to creative joy—comparison.

Don’t compare. Run your race. You’re the only one on the path. You build up your body of work at your own pace, in your own way. We need your insight, your voice, not somebody else’s.

You’re not running a race. You’re on a journey.

A wonderful journey,

If you’ve stopped because you felt you’ve fallen behind in the invisible race, please let me give a chance to restart.

So…on your mark.

Get ready.

Get set…GO!