Learning that the only one you are competing against is yourself

The last 6 to 12 months have been a real learning curve for me, in that time it has sunk in that the only one you are competing against is yourself.

For so long on both my blog and my stream, I have compared myself to so many other people. I’ve looked at where they started and where they got to and wondered why am I not there or why does that brand not collaborate with me.

Then the penny dropped and I stopped looking at others as competition and started being inspired by others and what they were achieving big or small.

Take blogging for example, I may not be a headlining blog that you see popping up all over the blogging world. However, I am still here 9 years later, so that in itself is an achievement that I am celebrating. I am now a little more focused on where I want to get to and what I want to achieve from my blogs, however, those plans are to be kept to myself. Not because its a secret, but those are my driving forces to where I want to get to.

With my stream I was really disheartened that it was not growing yet so many others were doing amazing even though they started after me, why was I not good enough to get the same success. It drove me away from streaming for a while, then I started again. This time I turned off the viewer count whilst streaming so I couldn’t see the numbers. I started being me on stream, not what I thought people wanted to see, I started visiting lots of other streamers and watching, joining in with their chat an enjoying being in lots of different communities.

Over time I have built my own little stream brand and I love it!

My stream views have slowly increased as has other stats but most of all, my love with streaming has increased. I love streaming and chatting with viewers, no matter how many there are in the stream or how long they stick around.

This year now I have a plan and focus across blogs and the stream, I have my goals and I am working my way to them. They are not goals for anyone else, they are ones for me to push on to where I want to get to.

After all, the only one I am competing with is myself.