Comparing Yourself to Others

One of the biggest challenges a music producer can face is maintaining the right mindset. This is easier said than done. Especially, when you compare your skillset, tracks, production sound, and success to other producers. This comparison is even more amplified when you have met composers in communities where you all started out together. All learning and developing at a starting point. What happens is some composers excelerate faster than others and they get those gigs, placements, streams and jobs. You may feel like you are falling behind and left in the dust. This happened to me.

I began my composer journey in several communities on Facebook in 2019. I feel like at that time the communites were flourishing. Everybody was excited to get into this industry, talking about the latest plugins, sharing their tracks and exchanging feedback. I met composers in this process of exchanging feedback and became friends with some of them. There are 2 composers in particular who I want to talk about. First composer was a guy who was great at orchestral and electronica composing. He eventually focused on electronic music and has become quite successful. He is now doing live shows and getting millions of streams on Spotify. The other composer I met is now working with a music publishing company, getting tracks placed world wide in various media platforms and she is currently going to an award ceremony for best soundtrack for a film she scored. I started out with these 2 composers but I honestly feel like I haven't achieved the same level of success they have. When I see their success on social media, I immediately compare myself. My inner critical self talk goes into overdrive. These 2 people are great and talented and I am happy for them. However, sometimes their success makes me a bit depressed and discouraged.

Comparing yourself to others is a natural part of life. The human mind is always assessing surroundings, risks, people, relationships. It starts when we have more awareness as a child around 10 years old. At that age, the comparison of looks, body image, intelligence, humour, clothes, money starts to be inner mind dialogue. What are some of the statistics regarding the human behaviour of comparison? Let's take a look.

Key Statistics on Comparison Behaviour

1. According to Cybersmile Foundation, approximately 89% of people engage in online social comparisons. Source https://www.cybersmile.org/2023/06/16/exploring-the-impact-of-social-comparisons-on-gen-z/

2. 96% of people are emotionally impacted during comparison

3. Roughly 10% of daily thoughts are related to evaluating yourself against others. Source https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/social-comparison-theory

Taking a look at some statistics, we start to understand that comparison in normal, very influential and part of human thoughts. In my everyday life, I can relate. Seeing other producers get comments, the plays, likes, subscribers, the placements makes me immediately evaluate where I am and what I've done. Sometimes I have to go as far as taking a break from looking at other producers' posts so I can productively focus on my progress. How do we turn all of these negative feelings around?

Steps you can take:

1. You can compare yourself or start to focus on the competitive aspect. Competition drives people to achieve more than they would otherwise. Pressure is a good thing. I can say that I have achieved more under pressure than not. Reframe the comparison and instead, drive yourself to be better.

2. Age does play a factor. I find that in my younger years, I was more affected by comparison. Now, I that I am older, I look at others as a source of inspiration and look at how their journey unfolded. Now, it's more about questions like, "How did they do that"? "How can I achieve the success that they have"? This is a much more productive approach than stewing in negative emotions.

3. Remember people you are comparing yourself to can also have imposter syndrome, self doubt, lack of confidence even in their success, personal and mental health struggles. We are all trying to navigate our own paths. Let's have faith that we can all achieve our dreams!

4. The important thing is to not focus your attention on what other's have or what they are doing and focus on how you can change your own reality. It's all in your power. You get to decide how your life plays out. You may not have the views and the streaming stats but you can focus on more important aspects like your personal growth in collaborations, production skills, knowledge, and experience. Other personal successes to focus on are gains in consistency and being more organized.

In summary, humans naturally compare themselves to others and this comparison can produce negative consequences. This can prevent people from reaching their true potential. Our feelings of inadequacy can completely stop music producers/composers from pursuing production. I have seen it happen often. We can redirect this comparison energy and turn competition into drive, remember that people also suffer internally, refocus our attention away from non-statistical rewards and emulate successful people.

Thank you for reading!! I have many ideas to write about. I would love to hear about your thoughts on this topic. Have a great day!!

Shannon

I