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Their Success Doesn't Mean Your Failure · The Daily Writer

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to today's episode of the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is part one of a five-part series on dealing with jealousy as a writer.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you're alive and breathing, you have struggled with jealousy.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just part of our human condition.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: But for most writers, jealousy is more than just an occasional struggle.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's a daily battle that threatens our very souls.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's nearly impossible for us to separate ourselves from our creative work.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's just part of who we are.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when we see other writers who we perceive as more successful or they have something that we want, it's difficult not to feel jealous.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The question that is foremost in our minds is why do they have blank and I don't?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you can fill in that blank with success, fame, money, social media followers, downloads, a book contract, or whatever else that you feel like is important to you as a writer.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: But this is totally the wrong approach, and this is the wrong question, and here's why.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's based on a destructive lie about success.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the lie goes something like this: when somebody else succeeds, it means that I have failed.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: When we see other people who are enjoying their fame or their money or their accolades or some kind of success, we interpret that as a reflection on ourselves.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to think, why do they get to enjoy success?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Am I not worthy of the same success?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why do they get to have something that I don't have?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this is called a zero-sum game.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's the lie that when one person wins, another person loses.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's the lie that a positive balance in somebody else's ledger means a negative balance in my ledger.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it's totally a lie and it's totally a myth.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: We know that it's a myth on an intellectual level, but our creative egos are so fragile that sometimes we, even though we know it's not true intellectually, we still emotionally feel jealous and we feel frustrated that somebody else has success and we feel like we don't have success.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that we interpret that emotionally is that it's a judgment against our own lack of success or what we perceive is a lack of success.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you to not buy the lie.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: One writer's success doesn't have anything to do with your success.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The two things are not related.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you can use that person's success to help you become even more successful.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's question: Who is another writer that you feel jealous about?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And how does it make you feel to know that their success is not related to yours?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Something to think about for sure.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been listening to this show for any length of time, you know that one of the four practices of a great writer is creativity.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to stay creative, you've got to have great input.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where writing prompts come in.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: A writing prompt is a sentence or two that helps you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Writing prompts are an awesome creative tool for journaling, storytelling, creative writing, stress relief, social media posts, and so much more.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the great news is that you don't have to create these yourself.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've put together an amazing package of 365 daily writing prompts.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So every day for the next year, you can have a shot of inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out at dailywriterlife.comslash writing prompts.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.