🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 182 | Curated Conversation | Comparison
July 2025
*Week 182: Curated Conversation: Comparison
Week 183: Mind Your Business: Comparison
Week 184: Manage Your Mind: Comparison
Week 185: What’s On My Mind: Comparison
Let’s sweep the brain…
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
👉 Click here to Listen
In the MindSweep this week:
Curated Conversation with curated GIF’s & puns (for your entertainment).
Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references. Need a map? I’ve got you!
What’s I’m Reading - The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Collaborations with Terri Hamilton (Thursday) & Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce
My face đź’ś and a link to schedule your free consultation.
Why Comparison Isn’t the Real Test
In high school I had this health teacher, Mrs. C, who paced the room during tests like a mall walker with a stopwatch. One day, I remember she stopped behind my desk and said, loud enough for the whole room to hear:
“Jamie. Keep your eyes on your own paper.”
The thing was, I wasn’t cheating. I was thinking. You know that squint-up-at-the-ceiling move we all do when trying to remember the difference between the pituitary gland and the pancreas?
That was me.
But it didn’t matter. She saw my eyes shift, assumed the worst, and I felt the flush of shame rise up like the temperature today in Massachusetts.
That moment stuck. Not because I got in trouble, but because I learned how others interpreted my behavior, even when I was doing nothing wrong. And yes, I personally gave the yearbook staff this exact line for my pet peeve in 1995: “Getting blamed for something I really didn’t do!”
For a long time, that’s what comparison felt like: someone catching me glancing sideways and assuming I didn’t know what I was doing.
Let’s sweep the brain…
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
👉 Click here to Listen
🧠The Creative Trailblazer
Fast forward a few decades, and now I work with heart-led, neurodivergent, creative trailblazers, because I am one too.
I know what it’s like to build something that doesn’t exist yet. To feel wildly inspired one moment and completely overwhelmed the next. To wrestle with executive dysfunction while leading with vision. To care deeply, think deeply, and differently, and then wonder if that's too much or not enough.
I don’t just understand how you think, feel, and work, I live it. That’s why the work I do isn’t about fixing you. It’s about helping you build a business that actually fits you.
You’re building something that doesn’t exist yet.
You’re doing it your way, on your own timeline. And still, your eyes wander. You peek at someone else’s loud launch, their follower and engagement count, smiley workshop photos, speaking gigs, pricing models that make your eyes bug out, and suddenly your confidence flickers.
It doesn’t mean you’re copying.
It doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing.
It just means you’re human.
Comparison is part of the brain’s design.
It’s how we evaluate ourselves, especially when we’re operating in uncertainty. And for neurodivergent entrepreneurs with executive functioning challenges, uncertainty is the default setting.
The entrepreneurial path we’ve chosen doesn’t come with a syllabus or a Scranton, so it’s no surprise we look around for clues, cues, and context. [1]
🧠The Trouble with Glancing
The problem isn't the comparison itself. The problem is when we:
compare up, and decide we’re behind,
compare down, and feel guilty for being ahead,
compare sideways, and conclude we’re not creative enough, brave enough, or “together” enough to belong.
And the truth? Most of the time, we’re comparing our rough drafts to someone else’s final edit, or their highlight reel to our behind-the-scenes chaos.
Comparison then becomes a distraction, a delay, and a detour.
Comparison is like looking at someone else’s test when the only question that matters is on your paper.
🧠Reclaiming the Glance
What if we flipped it?
What if that glance wasn’t a red flag of insecurity, but a green light of curiosity?
What if it didn’t mean “I don’t know what I’m doing” but rather “I care enough to keep learning”?
That sideways glance you give during a scroll, a workshop, or a networking event is not always about envy or inadequacy. Sometimes, it serves as a form of data collection. A pulse check. A quick scan of the terrain as you navigate your own unpaved road.
And let’s be honest, when you’re a creative trailblazer, there’s no Google Maps for the work you’re doing. No playbook for how to build a business that honors your neurodivergent brain, your heart-led mission, and your creative drive all at once.
So yes, you glance.
You take in what others are doing.
You wonder where you are on the path.
That’s not shameful. That’s strategic.
The trick is in the internal translation. Our brains are wired to seek feedback, but not all feedback is useful. Not all comparisons are accurate. And not all test papers ask the same questions.
When Mrs. C told me to “keep my eyes on my own paper,” she thought she was protecting the integrity of the test. But in hindsight, I realize something: the only integrity I needed to protect was my own. The test I was taking wasn’t the one on the desk; it was the one happening inside my head. A test of self-trust, confidence, and staying with the question long enough to find my answer. [2,3]
And that’s exactly what entrepreneurship is.
Especially for those of us with big ideas and brains that don’t follow a straight line, comparison is inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be corrosive.
Instead of asking “Am I behind?”, try asking:
What does this stir up in me?
Is this a mirror or a magnifying glass?
What’s on my paper that needs more of my attention right now?
You are not failing just because someone else appears further along. You are not off-track just because your timing looks different.
You are a creative trailblazer by nature, and your path will look different. It should.
Your answers are still in progress, and they’re entirely your own.
My questions for you this week :
Where are your eyes drifting in business right now? Are you looking for guidance or validation? [4]
Are you peeking to learn or to judge? And what would it look like to trust that your paper holds the exact questions you were meant to answer?
Reply and share with me!
✨ Ready to Stop Comparing and Start Creating?
If you're tired of chasing someone else's blueprint and ready to build a business that truly aligns with your brain, values, and vision, let's talk.
At Chickbook Creative, I work with heart-led, neurodivergent entrepreneurs who are done with detours and ready to follow their own path, with clarity, strategy, and confidence.
Schedule a Mapping Session or book a free consultation below, and let’s chart your next steps together.
Your paper. Your path. Your time.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
[1] Scranton Testing
[2] Did you miss our month on Trust
MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
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What I’m reading
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
Author: Sy Montgomery
A very special thank you to Judith Lytel P.A., Psy.D. from MetroWest Neurofeedback for this recommendation!
In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food.
Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us THIS Friday, July 11th, at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce for this two-hour interactive business community experience.
We'll discuss ways to cultivate business through Sales, Marketing, and Communication methods that support relationship building, showing up authentically, and connecting deeper with colleagues and the people you serve.
9-11 am - Open discussion, community support, brainstorming ideas
Join me in meeting business owners in our community. You'll leave with new tools to help you make connections and build your business!
Note: because of the 4th of July holiday we’ll meet the 2nd Friday!
Free; Registration is required: REGISTRATION.
Mindful Connections
Connecting like-hearted entrepreneurs to build relationships, offering support, understanding their passions, and sharing their names in rooms of opportunity.
Join us Thursdays, 12-1 pm EST.
12:00 - Take 5—a guided meditation with Terri Hamilton of Positively Terri to ground your week with peace and focus.
12:05-1 pm Round-table Share
Who you are
The gifts you bring to the world
Who you serve
The answer to a Curated question to spark conversation.
FYI: We will NOT meet Thursday, 06/26/2025
If you found this on the web, sign up to join us!
In other news…
Feeling #FOMO about Curated Conversations? Join us!
