Falling into Comparisionitis?

I redownloaded Tik Tok this week— and it brought up, yes, some cool inspiration and tips, but also the feeling of “oh my goodness, I am so behind.”

Ever happen to you? When wake up and scroll Tik Tok, Instagram, or Linked in and just feel like you have not done enough? Or looking at someone’s venture and comparing it to your own?

Comparisionitis creeps in when you least expect it! But it not only can affect your confidence, but it can also stop you from taking action that actually grows your business.

I want to take a practical approach to ways to stop comparison its tracks.

This happens to everyone—especially if you have social media. It is the comparison trap, or something I like to call comparisionitis. It’s a natural to benchmark ourselves, and in business, it can manifest as a never-ending loop of measuring your behind-the-scenes against everyone else's highlight reel — and always coming up short. (Been there and still sometimes need to stop myself from falling in!)

But, if you're too busy watching what everyone else is doing, you stop making decisions about your own business. You second-guess your pricing; you delay launching because someone else's product looks more polished; you pivot away from a strategy that was working because a competitor took a different path.

So, how can you break the cycle?

Recognize the Trigger

You can't address what you won't acknowledge. The first step is developing awareness of when and where comparison strikes.

•  Notice the physical and emotional signs: a sinking feeling, sudden self-doubt, or the urge to completely change your strategy after a scroll session

• Identify your highest-risk environments — social media, industry events, founder WhatsApp groups

•  Ask yourself: is this genuinely useful benchmark data, or is it just noise?

The sooner you can pinpoint when it happens, we can actually make a change!

Audit What You're Actually Comparing

Most comparison is deeply unfair — and not in the way you think because you are comparing your chapter one to someone else's chapter ten. You're looking at your internal experience or worry spiral to their external output, like the polished Insta post, the celebratory announcement on Linkedin, etc.

So, remind yourself of your own business metrics and timeline and what resources/time frame who you are comparing yourself to.

Redirect to Your Own Lane

What do you have to look forward to, and what does success actually look like to you? Maybe you have a vision board, a goals bingo, or a strategy document. Others’ success does not need to be threat if you know your own journey.

So why not:

• Write down what success looks like for your business in 12 months from now. Think big and bold!

•  Refer back to your goals weekly, or set them up in the 12 Week Year format. (Love this book!)

•  Curate your content deliberately, and follow accounts that genuinely inspire action, not ones that trigger comparison spirals

Take One Action Immediately

Momentum is the most powerful counter to comparison. When you're in motion — taking action on your own business — you have less mental bandwidth to fixate on what others are doing.

Think about taking one action (and it does not have to be big) like a social post, follow up email, or note down an accomplishment that happened this week.

Now, comparison will always be there—it is natural!

But I hope these small steps can help you build some more resilience, and self-awareness, to stop it from controlling your mental health or business decisions.

A kind reminder, no question is too big or too small… so don’t hesitate to submit your own Question of the Day (QoD)!

Before I do my next big round up of opportunities, I wanted to share a few that have come on my radar!

UK-Specific

• Barclays Funding Readiness Programme: Virtual/hybrid programme for founders exploring the fundraising process

• Yozma Fellowship for UK Students: Explore the Tel Aviv entrepreneurship ecosystem

• Founderland: Award for UK and European female founders

International Opportunities

• TechStars Anywhere Accelerator: Register your interest for the late summer program

• Alliance Accelerator: For crypto and AI specific startups

If this has been useful to you or if you have feedback to improve, please drop me a quick line. Or share with a friend!