It’s easy to feel insecure when you look at the achievements of your peers and think you could have been that successful if you worked harder, slept less, or knew how to multitask better. Those kinds of thoughts will not achieve the success you dream of, however. What they will do instead is make you feel insecure, because you’re watching other people’s marathon instead of winning yours.
Here’s how to change your mindset and win your own race:
Celebrate Your Achievements, No Matter How Small They Seem
When you see other people post on their social media, it’s always the big purchases or seemingly very chill lifestyle that’s easy to notice and envy. What you may not realize is that they also have their own struggles, and maybe they also look at your own feed and think about how much better your life is. The idea of “better” is subjective, and it should not be used to make yourself more insecure. How do you change this? List down the achievements you are grateful for. If you’ve thought about it, it counts. There is no big or small achievement. There are just things that you did, and things you didn’t. For everything you did, you deserve to celebrate.
Let Yourself Slow Down
Every day, you have a lot of decisions to make, people to talk to, and tasks to accomplish. It may feel like you don’t have free time on your hands. It takes a conscious effort to make time for yourself and slow down without feeling guilty about it. Sure, you will not get a job done if you take an hour off to apply a face mask for women and watch your favorite comedy series, but that hour of recharging yourself might make you more productive, which eventually results in getting the same task done faster. You’re not losing time; you’re simply reallocating it to leave room for yourself. Remember that your wellbeing is important especially if you have lofty goals, because when you’re not at your best, you can’t get all of them done.
Allow Yourself to Switch Tracks
One mistake several people make is thinking that they can’t start over again when their career doesn’t make them happy anymore. Usually, you think you can’t start over because you see everyone else establishing better positions and you don’t want to be back at the bottom of the ladder. Rather than making your decisions based on what other people will think, consider what will really make you happy. If you want to take makeup lessons and be a makeup artist, go ahead and do it. If you want to start your own business, get started now. If you want to stay at home and start a family, that’s equally valid too.
Your harshest critic is not your former best friend, teacher, or even your parents. It’s you, especially when you don’t allow yourself to make mistakes and have fun because you’re too busy earning money just to spend it. Find what you’re truly passionate about and pursue it–whatever happens, you’ll know you were happy doing it.
