You may have noticed that there is always an account on Instagram that seems to represent something you wish you had in your cafe. They look like they are having fun, their machines are nicer, the drinks are prettier, the space is designed beautifully etc. We will scroll through all these accounts to absorb the aesthetic of it all and call it inspiration. If it is inspiring then why do we feel worse when we go back to the real world of our cafes?

Because it is not inspiration, it is toxic comparison.

The trap we all fall into is to assume something about another business that most closely matches our insecurity with our own. It is the coffee version of the “the grass is greener”. (The coffee is browner?…)

What we in the coffee shop space need is to invest into finding and sitting with the good and the lovely of what we have in the real daily life of our cafes and the relationships therein. When we starve that impulsive comparison behavior and feed the habit of reflection and thankfulness for that which we have, the accounts begin to seem almost absurd. How could we have ever thought so highly of the obviously curated , edited, and selective content?

My encouragement to you today is to nurture the real, focus on the immediate, allow yourself to find inspiration through the reflective study of what is, in order to have a healthier aspirations that don’t blur the line between inspiration and toxic comparison.

-Chris

chris@keystotheshop.com