The other day I overheard Burton, the founder of Workability, asking a friend of ours, “Where’s your low self-esteem when you need it?” I burst out laughing. There is so much brilliance in that short question.
Our friend was asserting that he couldn’t do something, that it was outside of his capabilities. He was so sure and self-righteous about his low opinion of himself. How can you rely on your opinion about what you are capable of, while also incriminating yourself for not being all that smart, talented, or capable?? If you are not all that wise or capable, are you really the person you should be trusting?
We enter this paradoxical realm where we simultaneously consider we have little to no credibility and also give ourselves ultimate credibility, and the last word. At times, we are positive that we don’t have what it takes to succeed at some endeavor. We consider ourselves experts at knowing our own limitations.
And usually we are completely wrong when it comes to knowing and evaluating our “short-comings” (and this is for another post, but often what we think others value most about us is not accurate either).
We put up roadblocks in our lives and stop ourselves from having the conversation, making the call, starting the project, asserting our truth, taking the trip, whatever it might be. We are so sure we know where our abilities end. Well...you’re probably wrong. I’ve been wrong about myself at so many turns. It’s time to doubt the uber-confident limiting voice in our heads and ask ourselves:
“Where’s my low self-esteem when I need it??”
To doubting the right things!
