Sustainable Success Nudge From Your Future Self

💬 "You don't have to become someone else to get there."

Your next level may require more of you. But it doesn't require a different you.

Hi Melinda,

I have an old acquaintance I'd like you to meet.

Her name is Comparison Connie.

Perhaps you've met her.

I've certainly spent time with her over the years.

I'd look at successful colleagues and notice how they marketed, spoke, led, sold, created...

and I'd think:

“But that's what I'm doing. Why can't I be as successful at it?”

That's the sneaky part about comparison.

We compare our version of something to someone else's and assume that if they're getting a different result...

there must be something we're missing.

Or worse, something they have that we don't.

But I've learned not to fight Comparison Connie anymore.

I let her introduce me to Curious Carrie.

She's the part of me who can admire someone else's success without using it as evidence that I'm somehow falling short.

Comparison Connie asks:

“Why is this working for them and not for me?”

Curious Carrie asks:

“What can I learn from this and still do it my way?”

That's a very different question.

Because after 20+ years of entrepreneurship, I've learned that every meaningful next level I've reached has asked me to become more myself, not more like them.

More willing to trust what I know.

More willing to use my voice.

More willing to honor how I work best.

Yes, growth will stretch you.

It will ask you to learn new things, develop new capacities and step into places that feel uncomfortable.

But growth isn't an audition for someone else's life.

So here's something I'd love for you to notice this week.

Where are you trying to become more like someone else...

when your next chapter might actually be asking you to become more fully you?

You don't have to become someone else to get there.

You might simply need to bring more of you.

With presence,
Melinda