Why I blocked an 18-year-old millionaire

Hey there, solopreneur!

Something destroyed my confidence last week in about 30 seconds flat.

I was having one of those rare “ perfect” days…

New product ideas were clicking, my content strategy finally made sense, and I could feel real momentum building for the first time in months.

Walking through Berlin that afternoon, everything felt possible. The sun hit different.

I was in that sweet spot where entrepreneurship feels like magic instead of misery.

Then I made the fatal mistake of checking Twitter.

Top of my feed: some teenager bragging about their 8-figure exit.

Within seconds, that golden confidence crumbled.

My brain immediately started the familiar spiral: "What the hell am I even doing? This kid accomplished more by lunch than I have all year."

And here's the thing about comparison that nobody wants to admit: knowing it's toxic doesn't make it hurt less.

We've all read the Mark Twain quote about comparison being the thief of joy.

We nod along when Gary Vee tells us to run our own race.

But when that comparison hits you in real-time? All the wisdom in the world feels useless.

This shit is especially brutal if you're building online, creating content, or putting your journey out there publicly. The internet is basically a 24/7 highlight reel designed to make you feel inadequate.

But after years of getting psychologically destroyed by this trap, I've developed some actual tactics that work. Not feel-good platitudes - real methods to deal with the comparison monster.

1. Just block everyone who triggers you.

This might sound extreme, but hear me out.

If seeing some sixteen-year-old out-competing everything you do sends you into a rage spiral, just block them. If watching your competitors celebrate wins that you can't achieve makes you want to throw your laptop out the window, block them too.

I'm a big believer in this simple principle: what doesn't get inside your mind won't bother you.

And if you know you have certain triggers - why give them free real estate in your head? Blocking out the noise is one of the most underrated mental health strategies for entrepreneurs.

When I catch myself comparing to someone in a toxic way, I'm trigger-happy with that block button now.

Some people think this is weak or running away from reality. I think it's understanding how your brain works and protecting your energy accordingly.

Your mental bandwidth is finite. Stop letting random internet strangers hijack it.

2. Ask yourself: Are you actually open to living every part of their life?

I don't want to be a Naval parrot here, but this reframe is powerful as hell.

Here's what I do when someone's success makes me feel like shit: I ask myself if I'd be willing to trade lives completely. Not just take their wins - accept their entire existence.

Would I want their childhood? Their health problems? Their relationship drama? The pressure they're under? The sacrifices they've made that I'll never see?

Would I accept 100% of their reality without cherry-picking the good parts?

Something surprising happens when I really think about this - most of the time, the answer is a clear no.

You're comparing your behind-the-scenes to their highlight reel, but also your full life to just one dimension of theirs.

3. Am I comparing my year 2 to their year 20?

This trap gets me every fucking time.

When you see someone crushing it, it's easy to forget they might have been grinding for a decade before you even knew they existed. That seventeen-year-old selling their app for millions? They probably started coding when they were ten.

Social media makes everything look instant, but experience actually matters. You don't see the years of work that led to the moment you're comparing yourself to.

The algorithm shows you the celebration, not the preparation.

4. Algorithms are survivorship bias on steroids.

The content you see is literally designed to show you people on the far end of the success curve. Winners, celebrators, people having their best moments.

You don't see the people who lose - which are the vast majority. The algorithm doesn't surface tweets about failed launches or businesses that quietly shut down.

Algorithms don't represent reality at all. They represent the top 0.1% having their best day.

It's like judging your fitness by only looking at Olympic athletes during their gold medal moments.

5. People on social media lie. A LOT.

Don't trust anything you see on social media.

So many revenue screenshots, Stripe dashboards, and download numbers are heavily manipulated or downright fake. That company claiming $50 million ARR in 40 days? Usually not the whole story.

People are heavily incentivized to present inflated numbers because it boosts their authority and sales.

If you're comparing yourself to fake stories, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Always assume there's more to the story than what fits in a tweet.

6. The comparison pole is always moving.

Here's something that crushed me when I finally understood it: when you reach the milestones you've been chasing, the goalposts immediately shift.

The second I hit a revenue target I'd been obsessing over, I wasn't celebrating - I was already comparing myself to the next level up. Hit six figures? Now I'm looking at the seven-figure earners. Finally get that viral tweet? Now I'm envious of the people with millions of followers.

So if you compare yourself to someone and then surpass them, you just start comparing yourself to the next person. It's a never-ending cycle.

Some billionaires probably still compare themselves to the deca-billionaires.

This game of toxic comparison is so deeply ingrained in our brains that we have to actively work against it.

The finish line keeps moving because there is no finish line. That’s what makes us human.

7. Document your own journey.

This is the most powerful tool I've found for dealing with comparison bullshit.

If you document your journey, it becomes obvious how much you've actually grown. Sometimes I scroll back through old tweets and I'm shocked at how different I was just two years ago.

When you're watching yourself every day, you lose track of progress. But social media becomes this time machine that shows you your past self.

Your day-to-day progress feels invisible, but your year-to-year progress is fucking massive.

Start taking screenshots of your metrics, saving old content. Future you will thank you for the perspective.

8. Revenue often lags behind.

Your revenue today doesn't represent who you are as an entrepreneur today.

Revenue is a lagging metric. The work you're doing now might not show up in your bank account for months. The relationships, skills, and content you're building today - none of that immediately translates to cash.

Something that helps me: look at monthly, quarterly, or yearly trends instead of daily Stripe notifications.

It's very easy to get lost in the day-to-day revenue fluctuations and forget that you're playing a long-term game.

I'd love to tell you that I stopped comparing myself completely, but that would be bullshit.

But I'm getting better at using it as fuel instead of poison. Learning to accept that I'll always be me, not someone else.

I can even remember wishing other people would fail, which I'm kind of ashamed of. But I think to some extent, it's normal.

Our brains are hardwired to compare for status. Social media just pours gasoline on this fire.

The tactics I shared help me deal with it better, especially if you're building publicly like me. Comparison is just part of the game now.

At least now I have some weapons to fight back.

Ole's Bookmarks

Great thread on how to break smartphone dependency - Your phone is probably feeding your comparison addiction more than you realize.

On China by Henry Kissinger - Currently reading this historic book about China's history and it explains so much of what's happening today it's scary. Sometimes perspective from completely different contexts helps you zoom out from your own small problems.

See you next week 🫡 

Ole