The Success Measuring Stick

Last week National MI posted their October webinar lineup and tagged me as one of their new speakers.

It was a genuinely exciting moment. An opportunity I've been working toward. Something I am super grateful for.

I was already on LinkedIn when I saw it. And without thinking, I clicked on each of the other presenters' profiles.

Not their content. Not their bios. Not what they teach or why they were selected.

Their follower counts.

And just like that — that inner voice arrived right on cue. Who do you think you are? You're not in their league. What are you doing on a national platform with these people?

I had gone from gratitude to comparison in under five minutes. And I didn't even realize I was doing it until I was already in it.

Here's what I know to be true. A follower count has never once measured the impact of the work. It didn't measure the client who finally broke through something they'd been carrying for years. It didn't measure the LO who built the best year of their career after one conversation that changed everything. It doesn't measure any of what actually matters.

National MI didn't select me based on how many people follow me. They selected me based on what I bring.

I sat with it, turned to my journal and scripture, and went to the places I go when I need perspective that's bigger than what I can generate on my own. And what came back was clear — making myself small in the presence of someone else's success isn't humility. It's that inner voice doing its job.

And my job is to recognize it and redirect it.

Where comparison shows up in your world

I share this because I know I'm not the only one who has done this. And in mortgage sales, comparison has some very specific places it likes to live.

The LO who sees a colleague's production numbers at the company meeting and spends the rest of the day questioning everything about their own approach — not examining it, just questioning it.

The one who watches another LO land the agent relationship they've been cultivating for months and immediately starts wondering what's wrong with them rather than what they could learn.

The one who gets on a training call, hears someone else articulate something brilliantly, and quietly decides they're not as good at this as they thought — based on one moment, in one context, measured against one person.

None of those are fair comparisons. None of them are asking the right question.

And that voice that arrives in those moments doesn't care about fairness. It cares about keeping you small enough to stay safe.

Two questions worth sitting with this week

Where is comparison showing up in your business right now — and what is it costing you?

 And what evidence do you already have — sitting right in front of you, waiting to be acknowledged — that the measuring stick you're using has nothing to do with the actual value you bring?

The measuring stick was never theirs. It was always yours to set.