In this episode, I reframe comparison as something useful rather than harmful. Instead of letting it affect your confidence, you can treat it as information.

By getting specific about what you notice in others, you can identify areas to improve or realise their version of success is not what you want. When approached with curiosity, comparison becomes a tool for growth rather than a judgement of your worth.

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I want to talk about comparison because I think it gets a bad press. We are told not to compare ourselves to others. Now, that's unhelpful, it's unproductive and a waste of energy. And I do understand why that advice exists because comparison, when we let it run unchecked, can do a real number on your confidence. But I think there's a more useful way to look at it. Comparison... Start that bit again. Comparison is not going away.

It's a very human thing to notice what other people are doing, particularly when you are building something yourself. So rather than trying to stop doing it altogether, what if you just got better at what you do with it when it happens? When you look at another tutor and feel that familiar pull or that slight deflation, that quiet voice that says they're doing better than me, the natural response is to make it mean something about you, about your ability, about

whether you're cut out for this. But that's a verdict and comparison does not have to be a verdict. It can be information. So instead of asking why are they further ahead than me, try asking what is it specifically that I'm noticing? Is it their pricing, the clarity of their offer, the confidence in how they talk about their work? When you get specific, something really changes. You stop measuring your whole self against their whole self.

which is a never fair comparison anyway, and you start identifying something concrete that you can actually do something with. Sometimes what you notice will be genuinely useful. It might point to something worth developing in your own business. And sometimes when you look more closely, you'll realize that what they have built is not necessarily what you want, that you are comparing yourself to a version of success that doesn't even match your own vision. That's just useful to know.

Comparison becomes a problem when we use it to confirm a story that we are actually already telling ourselves about not being good enough. But when you start treating it as a starting point for curiosity, rather than a conclusion about your worth, it stops having quite so much power over you. So the next time it happens, just pause before you let it land as a verdict. Just get curious instead. And you might be surprised.

by what it actually tells you.