The problem with giving one's self credit is that the people who shouldn't give themselves credit are often the first to do so and the rest of the folks who should recognize their own distinction are often the last to want to do so. Because of this, those of us who are self aware are usually terrible at appreciation ourselves and crippled by the thought of being the jerk who wrongly self-aggrandizes.
What's this got to do with anything? This has to do with the fact that I want to write something right now. And that I have been feeling like I don't know what to write about. And that I have been doing a lot of reading lately and feeling like I could write it just as well. I'm not talking about reading Dickens and feeling like I could crank out a classic. I'm just saying that when I read Martha Stewart, when I read Vanity Fair, when I read even the New York Times, I get the feeling that I write as well as those people who have made a career out of writing.
I'm not looking to change careers. I'm not looking for praise, criticism, validation, or to be taken down a few pegs. I'm just saying, I write fairly well. But I've never really thought of myself as a terribly good writer. Certainly one of the things I do struggle with is finding things worth writing about. Arguably, so do the Martha Stewart writers. It is a different skill to have ideas worth bestowing to the universe, a near foreign concept on the internet. Anyhow, until just recently I never referred to myself as someone who has excellent writing skills. But, I do. So there. I said it. It feels good to say.
I am here to suggest to you that you give yourself credit. Not undue credit, but true and genuine credit for the good things you do. There's no reason not to. People say that feeling inferior is a great motivator. Those people are not wrong and they also aren't appreciating that people can use their brains. You can still strive to be better, you can still learn, and you can still not be a self assuring twerp. And you still get to feel good about yourself, you get to share that gift with other people, you get to inspire yourself. Why wouldn't you want to do that?
