#ProductBuild Series: Battling My Inner Demons And Overcoming The Dreaded Comparison Trap

In the first post of this series, I talked about turning this crazy idea I have had swimming around in my head into an actual, executable plan. Since then, I have been working on fleshing out my course outline and starting the task of writing all the content.

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To be brutally honest, it’s been going slower than I thought. In my head, I keep trying to make excuses for why that is.

Not enough time? That’s a cop-out excuse, because there is never ever going to be enough time. In order to accomplish something, I just have to prioritize it better.

Or, I don’t know where to begin on the next section. Who am I kidding? I have literally had this idea swimming in my brain for months and now I have a fully fleshed outline of what I want the course to cover. So, it’s not that either.

I realize it’s something else entirely. It didn’t really click until chatting with Jess Law. It’s the dreaded comparison trap. I’m my own worst critic and constantly doubt myself. It’s something I have struggled with for a really, long time. I constantly think my work isn’t good enough. Coupled that with the fact that I have a lot of friends and mentors who have created uber successful digital products, I wind up comparing my beginning to everyone else’s middle and outcomes. it’s enough to send me into a state of analysis paralysis.

  • Do I really have what it takes to write this content?
  • Am I really qualified to create this?
  • What if no one signs up for this course?

These are just a few of the What ifs circling in my head every time I go to plug away at creating more content.

With this, I am finding myself getting all kinds of distracted. Reading one more blog post or ebook about community management. A blog post on blogging. Or, another 21 step guide to launching the perfect digital product. It’s information overload. And, definitely not helping with my constant state of analysis paralysis.

Or, I let myself drift into the dangerous time-wasting rabbit holes that are Reddit and Youtube. I get sucked into watching another Brett Domino video. This video on writing a hit Christmas pop song is pretty epic.

Or, watching another video from the attention-obsessed Holderness family in yet another pair of matching family Christmas jammies.

And oh look, an epic parody video of Sia’s amazing Chandelier music video from a guy, who lost a fantasy football bet.

It’s so easy to fall victim to the endless amount of distractions on the Internet and never get any closer to turning an idea into a reality. I don’t want this product to turn into just another idea on a dusty shelf of coulda woulda shouldas. By this next update, I am going to try and squash down the dreaded comparison trap fears and get much more focused on cranking out all this content. More to come on my progress within the next 1-2 weeks.

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Do you have tips for overcoming the dreaded comparison trap when it creeps up? I’d love to hear. Please post in the comment section below. 

Jessica Malnik works with B2B SaaS and professional service firms to build marketing moat that compound over time using her signature content framework. As both a strategist and executor, she helps clients develop strategic content marketing roadmaps, scale content production, and provide guidance on campaigns and individual pieces.
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