Stop Comparing Yourself with Other Brand Strategists
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Alone and left behind.
Everybody else shares their wins, everybody else gets hired by their ideal clients, everybody starts to get paid at $10k... BUT, then you look at yourself and you realized you are only a few steps ahead from where you began. Now you’re on your own at level 2, while everyone else is already stepping into level 12. What’s going on?
Okay, before you start concluding that you’re not good enough, that brand strategy isn’t for you, or that your purpose is now lost, just stop your train of thought. Let’s try to see this from a different perspective. Let’s try looking at your fellow brand strategists not as your competitors, but as collaborators. Let’s try looking at this pool of brand strategists as a community of unique and different people that want to build brands to make a difference.
When you see everyone else as competition, you see that everyone has to reach the same destination with the same ideal pace. The conclusion will be that you’re all playing the same game and nobody is unique. There is only room for one person to thrive, while the rest will be defeated. But when you see other brand strategists as potential collaborators, as a community, you will begin to see that everyone is unique.
When you see others as collaborators, you embrace that everyone has different strengths. Everyone has their own lane, their own goals, their own pace, and their own abilities.
Imagine these hundreds of lanes with different hurdles and different rules. In each lane runs a brand strategist on their own. These lanes are side by side, but everyone is running in their own lane. Now, instead of busy getting in front of one another, we are now busy growing in our own lanes, overcoming our own challenges in our own tracks. And now, we’re busy looking left and right to see who might be people who can walk with us hand-in-hand. The ones who are at a similar pace with us can be our partners right then and there. The ones who are far ahead can be the ones who give us advice on how to move forward. It’s a beautiful teamwork.
Every brand strategist (and every creative for that matter) was born with their individual potential, passion, story, and vision.
You cannot compare yourself or one brand strategist with another brand strategist. You are not meant to be somebody else other than the best version of yourself, the best brand strategist and creative you can be. The moment you can embrace this truth, that you were created to be you, you will be able to see your uniqueness and celebrate other’s uniqueness as well—resulting in a powerful collaboration to build great brands.
So, the next time you feel left behind, remember: your job isn’t to run faster than other brand strategists, but to keep running to your next goal. It’s your lane, your pace, and your story.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!