Trust How Good You Are!

When I started my very first company I was only 23 years old.  I still felt like a little kid at the time.  I remember thinking that everyone was so much older than me and therefore they must be more knowledgeable than me.  I remember thinking that people who had a higher level of education than I did must be so much smarter than I was.  I remember looking at those people with big fancy jobs and titles thinking that they must be so much more capable than I was.  I remember how I used to constantly second guess my own instincts because I would default to the opinions of people that I figured must be better than I was.  Looking back I have to say that if I could tell young people something it would be this – DO NOT ever assume that age, or education, or title, position makes someone better or smarter or more capable than you are, and for heaven’s sake, trust in just how good you actually are!

The reality is that there are very educated people who are just not that bright.  There are older people who are not that wise.  There are people with big fancy titles who are not that capable.  So you can’t ever judge the abilities of a person by their age, their education, or their position.  You have to judge them by their results and their integrity.  And for heaven’s sake, don’t ever hold yourself back or second guess how good you actually are because you are measuring yourself against someone that you assume should be better than you.  Don’t discount yourself like that!  I can tell you that most of the employees I have worked with rate themselves far below how good and how capable they actually are.  So often they second guess their abilities and I just want to shake them and say “Don’t you know how truly amazing you are?”

Yet, I get where they are coming from because I remember a time when I used to think that way as well.  And then one day things started to change.  I remember sitting in meetings with what the world would have thought of as “big wigs” in my early days, listening to what was going on in the room and having it suddenly hit me – “oh, my gosh, I know more about this than they do” and feeling absolutely stunned by that because here I thought I was the junior person in the room.  The more I had those ah-hah moments in my career, the more I started to learn that I needed to stop assuming everyone was so much smarter or better than me, and with time and experience I came to realize that I needed to trust my abilities far more than I was giving myself credit for.  Once I was able to do that I was able to move much more quickly ahead in furthering my skills and talents in the business world.  The lesson I am trying to share here is to HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF because you really are better than you know.

Now for clarity sake let me be very clear that there is a huge difference in having confidence and being arrogant.  Confidence is recognizing your own abilities and feeling good about them.  Arrogance is when you start to think that those abilities somehow make you a more valuable human being than any other human being, which will never be right because to God we all matter exactly the same, never one above another, regardless of any abilities we have or don’t have.  So confidence in yourself is a good thing. Just don’t ever let it cross over into becoming arrogant, because that is a very, very bad thing and you never want to get that way.

Now back to how amazing you are.  Remember this:  You are better than you realize!  Trust in that.  My favorite quote in the world is one I remind myself of daily:

“Don’t limit yourself to the picture in your mind, because God might intend your picture to be a masterpiece.”  -Amy Rees Anderson

Wishing you the best Wednesday ever! (get it with the Genie avatar today..tee hee).  And it really will be Wednesday this time when you read my blog …so have a great Wednesday again for the second time this week :)!

~Amy

7 Comments

  • Jessika says:

    I’m not going to lie… I still don’t get the genie avatar! Did I not watch I Dream of Genie enough when I was younger?? Such a great show 🙂 And on another note, THANK YOU AMY! For clarifying the difference between arrogant and self confident! And thanks for the reminder that we are all AMAZING and need to just believe in ourselves!

  • Karissa Kim says:

    I love this. I can relate to your 23 year old self pretty well, as I am 24 and I often feel that same way. I mean, I’m not trying to start my own business or anything, but the grand majority of the people that I associate with are older than me and I often feel like they’re so much smarter and more capable than me. I’ve just recently started to realize that just having confidence makes such a big difference in my life and the way I got about thing and therefore makes me more capable of doing the things I want to. What a beautiful message. Thanks for sharing!

  • AshlieElizabethMoore says:

    Thank you, Amy! I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone in a position of power say something like this before. It is very inspirational and encouraging to hear. 🙂

  • Madee says:

    Thank you for this! I always feel this way. It’s that “Respect your elders” rule I’ve always been taught that makes me hold myself back. I’m trying to change that mentality so that I don’t have to feel like everyone whose older than me automatically know better, or feel like I can’t question their abilities, or feel unequal to them. Very helpful post today. =)

  • Roxie Zenger says:

    Amy,

    Good Luck to you as you venture on your new journey. You will be missed!! Your inspiration has been an amazing gift to all of us. Thank you for caring about us, keeping us employed, sharing your wisdom and most of all believing in each and every one of us as you make one and all feel important and valued. You are a shinning Star as such a beautiful example of what a good Employer is. Thank you! and I hope we are fortunate to have our softball team next summer and maybe! you can come watch us 🙂 that would be awesome.

    With all my respect,

    Roxanne Zenger

  • Connie Houskeeper says:

    Amy, I do love this. Now, as an older person. It is nice to receive respect. However, I have never felt entitled to respect. I still don’t, unless it is earned. In fact I have been one of those young people who only gave respect to someone that earned it. Being older in my mind never gave anyone that right. When I heard,” Respect your elders,” from someone, my thought as a stubborn teen was a bit disrespectful. ” I thought,” Then earn it.” Being respectful of another human is different than respecting my elders. I have always been kind because there is no honor in being mean or cruel. I will always give the benefit of a doubt. But there are people who live the same year over and over and never learn. They deserve kindness not leadership positions. On the other hand someone that has learned from life lessons and learned quickly, is someone that has earned my respect and I want that person as a leader. The fact is that we all live different lives and learn at different rates. As we learn, our responsibilities change and sometimes it changes to sharing experiences and lifting the next person. Amy, you have my respect and you are leaving the company in great hands. We will fight to retain the culture you established here. All of the leaders are good and great souls. However, it will be hard to replace your energy and that will be missed for sure. Love ya

  • Delcia says:

    Have you ever watched Validation? It’s a 16-minute video on YouTube about a man who gives compliments to people and they love him. Then he has a trial. I really like it. You should watch it. And I love your blogs!

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