Oprah mentioned in a Career Talk at Stanford that there is one question almost all of her celebrity guests ask her backstage when the show ends.
Can you guess? It goes something like this:
“Was that…ok?”
It could have meant: “Were my answers good (funny) enough for your audience?” or “Is that what you expected from me?” or “Hope how I was met your expectations.” Most of us may be surprised by this fact that even well-known actors, musicians, politicians or business leaders still ask “Am I good enough?” after achieving such success and fame.
What about you? Have you ever questioned yourself: “Am I good enough?”
It can be in your job, business, relationship, financial wealth, health, physical looks, etc.
Was there a time in the past that you ended up not doing anything because you thought you were “not good enough”?
Maybe you were thinking of applying to that new job you saw, but after reading the description and starting your cover letter, you felt that you were not good enough, so you decided not to apply.
Maybe you had this great idea and thought about starting a new business, but you said to yourself, “well, there are plenty of other people doing it, so what could I offer that’s not already out there?” and decided not to do it.
Maybe you had a crush or were in love with someone, but you said to yourself, that person is way too good for you, so you didn’t even bother to try.
Maybe the last time you had a chance to negotiate your salary or bonus with your boss, you decided not to push harder, because you felt you couldn’t quite defend your worth.
Maybe you tried on that fabulous suit or dress in that shop, and decided not to buy it, after seeing yourself in the mirror!
I feel there are 2 different situations in which we ask ourself “Am I good enough?”
- We compare ourselves with others.
- We compare ourselves with the potential version of ourselves.
I feel when we start comparing ourselves with others that’s when we end up doing nothing. We wait for the perfect moment to come but it never comes. We wait for an external validation or approval in order to take action but we don’t realize that there will always be people much better than ourselves, in any field.
On the other hand, when we start comparing ourselves with the potential version of ourselves I feel that we start taking action and thrive to be the best version of ourselves. When we are in this state and ask ourselves “am I good enough?”, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t confident. It just means that we think there is always room to grow and we’re not afraid to ask feedback from those we trust. We don’t waste time on trying to become someone else.
But it’s a choice. There’s no right or wrong.
I used to compare myself with others and ended up doing nothing about it because I was discouraged by my own illusion that I’m not good enough.
But this time, I decided to focus on comparing myself with the potential best version of my self and to thrive to head in this direction.
I just decided to do it. Make the leap. Take action.
What about you?
If you like, come join me to make that change and start moving in the direction of creating your best version of authentic life at: www.reinaueki.com
ACTION! Have fun!
