I'm not sure if you can relate to this:
I was just listening to an interview with a guest who's been really successful at launching products. At first it was exhilarating: "Wow! This guy's story is amazing! Look what he's accomplished!"
And then I got kind of depressed.
I started comparing myself to him: he's younger than me, he's accomplished more in a year than I have in 5, and his first product has done way better than mine. Looking at his success, I started to feel hopeless; like the race is already over, even though I've just left the starting line.
Do you ever feel like that?
I think the truth is: we all slip into this kind of negative thinking from time to time. What should we do with these thoughts?
Here's what I've come up with:
We're self-critical when we put too much pressure on ourselves. Relax: we don't get any closer to our goals by stressing out. Stress is a mess. Take a deep breath. Close your computer. Go watch a movie. Allow yourself to de-pressurize. Have a good sleep.
When you wake up: remember to enjoy your journey. Creating things for other people can be a great joy. Let's enjoy it.
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
PS: I originally wrote this for my mailing list. You can sign-up here.