Stage 3 of 6 · 6 lessons · ~1 week

Comparison, LinkedIn and your own timeline

Comparing yourself with others is natural, but social media turns it up to full volume. Learn what comparison does, how to use it rather than be used by it, and how to keep your own timeline.

Start: Why we compare

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Note who you compare yourself with most and how you feel afterwards
Set one rule for LinkedIn or social media and keep it for a week
Mute or unfollow three accounts that reliably leave you feeling worse
Write three ways you have grown in the last year
Turn one moment of envy into one small step towards what you want
Congratulate one peer and ask them what made the difference

Practise

Greater Good in Action (UC Berkeley)
Gratitude and kindness practices that shift attention away from scorekeeping

Keep handy

Sefism LinkedIn and Personal Branding Roadmap
Use LinkedIn with a purpose: show your own work rather than watch everyone else

Also worth your time

The Courage to Be Disliked (Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga)ReadPaid
A dialogue on letting go of competition and other people's approval

Before moving on: An honest note on who you compare yourself with and how it affects you, one rule for LinkedIn or social media kept for a week, and a written list of how you have grown in the last year.

Tauseef's advice

You will never win a comparison with the best moments of hundreds of people. Compare yourself with who you were last year, and use other people's success as information about what is possible, not as a deadline. And mute freely: protecting your attention is not jealousy, it is good sense.

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).