{"id":6298,"date":"2019-06-27T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=6298"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:12:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T21:12:01","slug":"avoiding-comparison-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding the comparison trap: Being an artist on one\u2019s own terms"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6 style=\"text-align: center;\">Illustration: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelgh.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Haddad<\/a><\/h6>\n<h1>Our digital landscape encourages us to constantly measure ourselves against our peers and idols, but comparing ourselves to others can be dangerous and stifle creativity.<\/h1>\n<p>There is value to having role models in life and in art. But when one strives to become one\u2019s role models, individuality suffers. Everyone&#8217;s paths are different and we are the sum of different circumstances and chance events. Taking this into consideration, comparison becomes absurd.<\/p>\n<h2>Find your own truth and stick to it<\/h2>\n<p>By wanting to be someone else (or more like someone else), you&#8217;re setting yourself back out of the gate. For one, you never will be (you&#8217;re you!), and two, you won&#8217;t achieve that glowing individuality that radiates from your idols by following someone else&#8217;s lead. Don&#8217;t want to be someone else &#8211; want to be yourself. It&#8217;s your only choice. Anything else is a distraction and a sure bet at being uninteresting.<\/p>\n<p>Through the rose-tinted lens of social media, others are often projecting their best selves, if not inflated versions of themselves. They might be struggling in the same way you are, but leaving it out of their narrative. People often suffer more than meets the eye and have messier lives than their Instagram accounts might portray. You&#8217;re less alone than you imagine and being an artist &#8211; perhaps more than any life practice &#8211; is about finding one&#8217;s own truth and sticking to it.<\/p>\n<h2>Set your own parameters for success<\/h2>\n<p>Measure yourself according to your benchmarks. Consider asking yourself: is this bringing me joy? Would I want to listen to this? Would I be floored if this track came on at a party? Does this tell my story? Does this sound like anything else I&#8217;ve heard? Does this sound like me?<\/p>\n<p>Success can be measured on one\u2019s own terms, and unlike aiming to be &#8216;as good as&#8217; your favorite artists, this practice doesn\u2019t hinge on moving targets. Set your own parameters for success and you may find yourself carving out a path that&#8217;s distinctly your own. In addition to maintaining your mental health, this exercise will help define your aesthetic values and set guidelines for your work.<\/p>\n<h2>Look inward, not outward<\/h2>\n<p>If you must compare, try reflecting on your work alongside your past creations. You might be astonished to hear how far you\u2019ve come. You may be also be struck by some of the qualities of your early work that you forgot about and might appreciate revisiting. I\u2019ll never forget digging up some of my earliest experiments after ten years of making music to find a playfulness and curiosity that was missing from my newest work. Sure, I had become technically more proficient over the years, but I had drifted away from the childlike sense of wonder that I made sure to reconnect with on future records. A deep look inward can be infinitely more rewarding than looking outward. Invite yourself to relinquish the latter and dive in.<\/p>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Spark inspiration for your music with expertly-curated loops, one-shots, MIDI, presets, and more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join Splice today<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn why comparing yourself to others can be absurd, and why looking inward is more important than looking outward when it comes to being an artist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":6445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1859,1696,1704],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Avoiding the comparison trap: Being an artist on one\u2019s own terms - Blog | Splice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn why comparing yourself to others can be absurd, and why looking inward is more important than looking outward when it comes to being an artist.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoiding the comparison trap: Being an artist on one\u2019s own terms - Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn why comparing yourself to others can be absurd, and why looking inward is more important than looking outward when it comes to being an artist.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-27T16:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-09T21:12:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Comparison_Trap_BlogPost.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Rioux\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Rioux\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erin Rioux\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53a8cf19fb1baa319e324895573fef0c\"},\"headline\":\"Avoiding the comparison trap: Being an artist on one\u2019s own terms\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-27T16:00:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-09T21:12:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/\"},\"wordCount\":518,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/avoiding-comparison-trap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Comparison_Trap_BlogPost.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Inspiration\",\"Tips &amp; 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