278: Comparing Yourself to Others in the Field: Avoiding The Pitfalls

Selling the Couch

Today’s show is about a topic that has been a struggle for much of my life and career.

I’ve fallen victim to comparing myself to others and feeling like I’m not measuring up.

It’s taken a lot of personal work for me to learn to compare in healthy ways that don’t cripple and stifle my creativity and purpose.

Are you in the same boat? Join us to learn more!

Our Featured Guest - Supriya Blair, PsyD

Dr. Supriya Blair is a psychologist in Albany, NY. We have connected through the STC community, and I wanted to get her input on the topic of comparing ourselves to others.

We’ll start by discussing how comparison comes too easily for many of us and how Supriya noticed this

comparison impacting her life until she was able to reframe her perspective.

We will consider an all-too-familiar scenario in which a colleague’s success triggers insecurity in our lives, along with helpful tips and resources to navigate the tricky field of comparison to others.

Dr. Supriya

You’ll Learn

● Why comparison is so prevalent in the helping professions

● Three ways we compare ourselves to our colleagues:

○ Seeing someone else’s path and journey as THE template for success

○ Not recognizing my authenticity as a source of empowerment

○ Not allowing for different business models in finding my unique path

● How to handle the pushback when we launch into our own path

● Navigating the difficult moments when someone else experiences success or achieves the milestone that we want

● Why the ability to serve is the most important thing

● Practical help in the area of comparison to others:

○ Brene՛ Brown’s book, I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough"

○ Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

○ Meditation practice

Today's Podcast Sponsor: Headway

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Solo and group practices in network through Headway can get better rates, get paid automatically twice per month (no more rejected claims or delayed payments), and get complimentary billing and admin support so you can focus on serving your clients. And the best part...Headway is paid by insurance companies, so it’s free for us to use.

Solo and group practices out of network through Headway also get full admin support and get access the vast pool of potential clients who need to use their insurance to pay for care. And the best part...Headway is paid by insurance companies, so it’s free for us to use.

Learn More at https://sellingthecouch.com/headway

RESOURCES TO GUIDE YOUR BUSINESS JOURNEY

Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

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Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work.

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).

Mentioned in this episode:

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