I'm Just Not Good At That

"I'm just not good at that" feels like the truth. But I bet you never actually tested if it's true.

For years, I demeaned myself in the same way.

“I’m just not good at this.”

Business.
Leadership.
The whole vulnerable-human-being thing.

I said it so often that nobody questioned it.
Including me.

It sounded humble. Like I was just being honest about my weaknesses.

Until a decade or so later when it all hit me like a ton of spiraled zucchini.

I wasn’t describing myself.
I was protecting myself.

If I wasn’t “naturally good” at something, then it was ok to fail.
By claiming to not be good at something, I was lowering everyone’s expectations. Including my own.

It wasn’t humility.
It was a wall to protect my fragile ego.

The scary part wasn’t that I believed it.
The scary part was that I never bothered to wonder whether it was actually true.

(Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. I’m actually pretty good at the stuff I said I wasn’t good at)

That’s what happens with the stories we tell about ourselves.
Do you know what your story is?

• “I’m terrible with money.”

• “I’m not creative.”

• “I’m not a people person.”

• “I’ve never been good at conflict.”

• “I’m just not confident.”

At some point those sentences stop becoming opinions and start becoming your identity.

The problem is that most of them aren’t based on fact.
They’re conclusions you reached years ago that you never bothered to re-confirm.

This prompt is designed to uncover one of those stories.
The one you’ve repeated so many times that it feels like part of your personality.

Then I will challenge you with this simple question:

What if that story isn’t true anymore?

Be warned…

This prompt is surprisingly uncomfortable.
Run it anyway.
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽