Community Not Competition
This is what blogging is all about to me. Yes, we may sell things. Yes, we may want more readers, more comments, higher stats…but what blogging has really meant to me over the years I’ve been doing it is being part of what is (99% of the time) an incredible and positive community of people.
It can be hard when you see the successes (or purposed successes) of others to feel a stab of jealousy, and a need for competition.
But what I do is think it through. Think about the things you might not have seen? The unseen late nights, missed time with family and friends… the real thing is that you don’t know what went into someone’s success, so there’s not much point to feeling sad about it. Congratulate them, and then go back to working on whatever your goals are in blogging. That’s the best thing to do.
By congratulating another blogger, you will learn to get over any feelings of jealousy, and help to build a professional industry of people who work together. You will develop community, not competition.
How do you deal with the feelings of competition in blogging?
I really love that blogging has never made me feel particularly competitive. I love the community aspect. I admit that sometimes I get a pang of “WHAT THE HELL – THIS PERSON CANNOT EVEN STRING A SENTENCE TOGETHER AND THEY HAVE 1 MILLION FOLLOWERS AND A BOOK DEAL FOR WRITING?!” but generally, I think that the people I follow who succeed deserve that success! I can often identify what they do that I can be inspired by, not jealous of.
Haha I must admit, I have had the same thought. But rarely and it doesn’t last long.
I used to feel a little competitive in the early days but then I got over it as I realised I have way more important things to worry about! I love the community I’ve discovered through blogging and I never begrudge anyone their success. There is room for all of us and as long as we support each other, we’re all winners (that sounds like a cringey sporting saying but you know what I mean!!!)
Sometimes cliches are cliches for a reason 🙂
I love reading on old blog post. I don’t look at anyone as competition when it comes to blogging as there is room for everyone.
For the last IBOT I really wanted to link up something that’s always true.. or “evergreen” 🙂
I don’t understand the competitiveness in the blogging world. I know it comes from trying to make money etc but in the end, for me, like you, it’s about a community and your tribe. Petty jealousies, fights and envy are a waste of time. Not everyone is going to become a professional blogger and people need to deal with that. These past few weeks, as I’ve been meeting bloggers in India face-to-face, I’ve learnt so much more about how petty some people have been here as well given the market has moved to niche blogging and money-making in the past few years. It makes me roll my eyes and shake my head.
Yep, I don’t think anyone will be able to make me niche down. I’ve been writing here since about 2012 and online since 2002ish and I still have no point other than I want to!
This reminds me of that quote “a flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” For me, community trumps competition every time!
Great quote! Very true.
I first felt it was competitive when I blogged…because I saw ‘success’ as getting sponsored, making money and blah blah (I blame certain blogging conferences I attended with the initials P and B.). Once I found this was neither my style nor what anyone wanted from my blog, I became a community-oriented blogger who wanted to connect. That is it. Denyse Whelan Blogs..to Connect.
Denyse #teamIBOT
I know a lot of people had the same experiences of pbevent but it never came across that way to me. Maybe I just filter things out because I never had a great deal of interest in the sponsored posts world (becuase everything I got offered was boring or kid related – or both) so I just went “delete” to that info and took in what I wanted to learn.