How To End The Destructive Habit of Comparing Yourself To Others

Do you sometimes compare your creative work to other photographer’s work and get discouraged?

If so you´re not alone…

So let me just say this once:

Measuring your success through comparison is a recipe for letting yourself down.

The only photographer you should compare yourself to is the one you were yesterday.

Why? Because…

Creating art is not a competition, someone does not have to lose for someone else to win. We can all win if we create images that bring personal satisfaction.

Comparing, in photography or in life, is not productive. You cannot look to external standards, whether it be others work or their opinions, to find personal satisfaction. You must be comfortable with yourself and your art to find true joy.

The very act of comparing yourself to others takes up your precious time and headspace and you have absolutely NO CONTROL over this other person and their creative work.

When you compare yourself to your competition or tailor your business to match other businesses in the field, you´re forgetting the ONE thing your business has that no other business has; YOU.

Your secret sauce is YOU!

Build your business around your own unique talents, ideas, and vision, and you´ll ensure that not only will you stand apart from the rest; you´ll also do the work you love and were meant to do.

Instead of wasting valuable time comparing, focus on being more creative and innovative than ever before. Focus on doing things that are directly related to building your creative skills and your brand style.

The fastest way to free up your creativity is to spend less time on social media comparing and more time creating.

WHEN YOU CREATE:

You generate more creativity.
You produce more ideas.
You improve your skills.
You get more business.

Celebrate your creativity

The best thing about Instagram is that it can be your creative outlet. Instead of focus on the outcome; the photo. Remember, you have a particular set of gifts, personality traits and talents that are unique to you. Comparing your life, your personality and talent is a waste of your gifts.

Focus on the process of creating your photo. Put more effort into the details, care about the composition, play with the colors, experiment with editing styles and so on. Imagine there´s no rules, and just like a child you allow yourself to play with new fun ideas.

Who cares what it looks like if you had fun creating it! It´s the quality of life that matters – not how it looks on the outside.

Real beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself. And Personality begins where comparison leaves off. Be unique. Be confident. Be proud. Focus on your journey, not the destination.

Post for your eyes only

Take your power back and decide to post for you – and only you! After all your Instagram account is yours right! Post photos that make you feel; happy and creative.

Have fun with it and do it for you – don’t post photos to try to please others and get more followers. It will only make you feel detached from yourself and stressed.

The Healing Power of Gratitude

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Being thankful is incredible empowering. The healing power of gratitude will fill your life with miracles and silence your inner critic like nothing else.

Celebrating attention to gratitude isn’t just something that sounds nice at Thanksgiving – it’s a lifestyle and mindset choice that will drastically change your life and your creative business.

For something to change in your life, one of two things has to happen: your life changes, or you do. Waiting for life to change is a passive solution.

When you shift your focus away from everything that is scary, difficult, hard, and unfair to a gratitude practice, all of a sudden things start to fall into place. Being a creative soul means being proactive, not passive, and being grateful is one of the fastest ways to generate positive change.

Adopting a gratitude practice takes you out of problems and toward a solution. It removes you from complaining mode and into a best-outcomes mindset. That’s a skill you need in your life and in your business decision-making.

When you’re grateful you will INSPIRE people with your contagious positive energy.

And people simply love to be around people with a gratitude attitude.

Gratitude is energy, and everyone is either bringing some to you or draining it from you.

The marvellous thing about practising gratefulness is that it´s (according to psychology research) the fastest way to turn off your negative thinking and grow your confidence.

Spending just 10 minutes a day thinking or writing about things, events, and people you are grateful for can save you a lot of heartache and pain.

You can use gratitude to reframe your thinking. For example, if I hear my inner critic say:

“Christina You are fat and lazy, you should lose a few pounds!”

Then I immediately answer back:

“Yes, maybe, but you know what; I´m super grateful for my body; I have given birth to three wonderful children, I can walk on two strong legs, I can dance the boogie woggie and I can breathe freely. It´s absolutely wonderful – what a miracle!”.

Gratitude can SILENCE your inner critic like nothing else!

The truth is that to re-connect with yourself and find more peace and calm in life, you don’t have to make BIG changes. Think baby steps – choose gratitude. Just breathing deeply and becoming present in the moment is enough to activate calmness and positive change.

Pay attention to the small stuff. When you take little moments during your day to notice these “small” everyday things, you will automatically reduce your fast pace and live more mindfully and gratefully.

With mindful gratitude,

Christina

26 Powerful And Motivating Tips for Photographers

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The purpose of this list is to inspire you to think differently and to help you focus on what´s most important in your photography journey. We all need to be reminded of good habits, and positive thinking from time to time, right 🙂

Are you ready? Okay, let’s get started…

1. No matter the situation, there is always a way to make it beautiful. Sometimes you just need to look at the world from a different view, and suddenly it will all make sense.

2. You don’t need, to tell the truth in a picture, but you need to be true to yourself when you shoot it.

3. Focus on being you and bring YOU into your pictures. If you look too much at others work, you will bring too much of their vision into your own work.

4. Most photographers are not born great. They become great by growing into their potential. When you put in the effort, put in the work, when you keep experimenting, learning, testing and when you keep playing with your camera – you will grow, and you will become better.

5. Failing is not failing – it´s learning. Failure mostly happens when you step out into unknown territory and experiment with things – what you learn from this is valuable. The sooner you fail, the sooner you can not fail.

6. In a portfolio, a few beautiful photographs will have a better impact, than 100 average pictures with a few winners. Make sure your portfolio only showcases your best work.

7. You don’t need to be an annoying sales person to get people to book you, all you have to do is to express enthusiasm and excitement. Nothing is more attractive than a person who oozes passion and energy.

8. Don’t be scared to start something you don’t know how to do (yet). You´ll learn along the way.

9. To run a successful business, you need to avoid stress and make sure that you are happy and relaxed. Remember, an over-stressed mind cannot think creatively, and your inner passion/creativity battery will shut down.

10. Trust that the answers are coming to you; sitting in a workspace isn’t necessarily the best place for that to happen. Get up, get out, and maybe your big break is outside waiting for you.

11. Have fun. You always find a way, even when you think you won’t.

12. Specialize! It not only helps you become more skilled, but it also allows you to increase your prices and charge accordingly for the services that you offer.

13. When there is trouble coming your way, the best way to handle it is to do something about it right away! The best time to solve a problem is now – not tomorrow or in a few weeks – but right now.

14. Help those who are starting out. Nothing you do is precious enough to be kept hidden: the real value is in the way you do it.

15. When something doesn’t feel right, that’s reason enough. And that is the only reason you need.

16. Being the best also requires you to take breaks when needed. Make sure you rest when needed. Doing so lets you walk the longer mile ahead.

17. Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can’t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.

18. Spend money on equipment only when you’ve outgrown your current equipment, and you’re being limited by it.

19. Don’t try to sell yourself. Focus on serving and adding value and your business will grow.

20. The moment you realize that being creative is about enjoying the process – not the end result, then you´ll truly boost your creative mind! Getting caught up in perfectionism will slowly drain you of creative energy!

21. Don’t photograph for perfection – photograph for emotions. The emotions people feel when they see your work, is what makes them buy.

22. Do not undervalue your work (selling yourself to cheap won´t give you success – only the wrong clients). Make sure you charge what your worth + charge for your time.

23. Love your network. Don’t ask what your network can do for you, but what you can do for them.

24. Be sure to shoot what YOU love. Do what you feel in your heart to get it right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.

25. Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every photographer has his/her own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive.” No one ever does.

26. Being grateful boosts happiness. Happiness enhances creativity. Make sure to count your blessings and do activities that put a smile on your face.

I hope you enjoyed reading this inspiring list. Now it’s time for a little assignment!

I challenge you to pick the 3 statements that actually speaks to you.

Write them down on a post-it and hang them on your wall or computer screen. Get used to them and repeat them daily so you can become stronger and more confident.

I promise it will make an impact!

Much love,