“Comparison is an act of violence against the self.”
Iyanla Vanzant
Do a quick Google search, and you will find pretty much all quotes about comparison are negative.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Teddy Roosevelt
The problem with saying that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone or anything else is that it’s almost impossible to achieve. Our brains LOVE to compare and categorize things: dark and light, hot and cold, love and hate.
It’s our brain’s job to do this, but when things are not so black and white, our brains struggle a bit more. It’s not as simple as “Am I good at voiceover or bad at voiceover?”
For the past six years, I have given my brain the job “get better at voiceover.” And here’s the conversation that happens.
My brain: “Better than what?”
Me: “Just…better. Better than I am now!”
My brain:
How do I tell my brain what is better and what is worse?
Over time, I can compare myself to my past self. But like comparing pictures of an adult over time, it might take years for changes to be noticeable.
While comparison with my past self is a helpful way to judge my progress over time, comparison with others is a far more efficient way to judge what progress needs to be made in the first place.
In one of the very first voiceover workshops I took, I had a pretty high opinion of myself. I was a TRAINED actor with DECADES of experience! In comparing myself with the other participants, most of whom were entirely new to any type of acting, I definitely came to it with some basic skills. I was able to cold read. And emote. One participant was coached to increase her energy level multiple times, and the read came out the same every time. I patted myself on the back for being coachable, and thought to myself “I don’t need a class! I need an agent!”
And then a year or two later, I was in a class where a close friend of mine was just nailing EVERY SINGLE READ. She got nothing but praise, and she deserved it. She was fantastic! But I was terribly jealous that I wasn’t yet at that level. I couldn’t understand how to breathe normally behind the mic. I always felt out of breath, unnatural, and under-energized. Comparing myself to my friend, I shut down and couldn’t learn, because it felt hopeless. I would never be as good as her, so why even try.
This is the view of comparison that most people have, and I agree, it’s not great. In both of these examples, my comparison of myself to others was a trap that limited my growth.
If you view yourself as far superior to others, then you have nothing to learn.
If you view yourself as vastly inferior, then the potential for improvement seems impossible and the striving for it futile.
At this point, some might say, “Well, we just shouldn’t compare ourselves to others at all! It’s just a destructive trap.”
I disagree. 100%.
Unless you only do private coaching, it’s going to be hard to avoid comparing yourself to others in the industry anyway, so you may as well learn how to use comparison as a tool for growth.
When you have a growth mindset, comparison becomes a useful gauge—ask yourself:
From absolute beginner to mastery, where am I on the journey?
What skills do I have?
What skills do I need to learn or improve?
How do I measure up in comparison with those who have the opportunities I want?
Comparison is like a hammer.
It’s not good or bad; It’s just a tool. But it can be used to build a house, or to bash someone’s head in.
The key is learning how to use it to your advantage and filter out what is useful and what isn’t.
Constructive comparison lives in subtleties.
These are some useful things to pay attention to when engaging in constructive comparison:
Energy level
Mic technique
Vocal placement
Vocal musicality
Use of humor
Script analysis
Imagined circumstances (who you are talking to and where)
The different types of delivery between genres (TV vs Radio, e-learning, corporate narration, etc) and style (snarky, heartfelt, authoritative, quirky, etc)
You can learn a lot from how your peers use these very specific things in their performance.
In contrast, destructive comparison tends to focus on what you feel you lack, and deals more in generalities.
This negative shame loop of mentally flogging yourself for your deficiencies does not benefit you, especially if they are things entirely outside your control, like your age, voice type, or current skill level.
Focus on using comparison to control the specific things you can control, and sooner than you know it, you’ll have built the framework of a successful voiceover career.
