500 Words a Week - What do we think of ourselves?
"To run a 4minute mile you have to be humble enough to do the actual work, but at the same time arrogant enough to believe you will succeed." – Sir Roger Bannister
We all suffer from a negativity bias. We zoom in on the poor decisions or mistakes we have made. We are unable to view the good that we do or are capable of. In moments of pressure or stress, we default to thinking about the circumstances where we have failed, where we were incapable of rising to the occasion. We may have set ourselves internal goals, or communicated them to those close to us, but are unable to act upon due to our negativity bias, for seeing ourselves as a failure before we have even started.
As Roger said, sometimes we need to have some arrogance to believe we can achieve our goals. Sometimes we need the confidence to take the first step toward our intended target. However, this can’t be the “fake it till you make it” confidence, this must be wholeheartedly held. At times we need to remind ourselves that this confidence and arrogance isn’t unjustly held. We can look back on moments where we have been successful, rather than those where we have failed. Failing isn’t something to be afraid off, it’s just something we shouldn’t dwell on. We learn from the mistake and move on. We remember the lesson, combining that with our previous successes to make us a better person or move us closer towards our intended goal.
Another key area Roger highlighted, was that we need to be humble enough to do the actual work. How many times have we set ourselves a goal, and not taken a single action that would help us in reaching it. How many times do we allow ourselves to dream big and imagine what if, without anything ever coming of it. To get anyway close to what we would like to achieve be that personal, sporting or career, we must do the work.
The focus of this blog isn’t to be another centred around doing the work. The focus of this blog is that in times of doubt, when we feel wrapped up in our own failures. We need to remind ourselves of the good we have done. The success we have had, no matter how small or relevant. The things we’ve achieved that make us proud of ourselves.
If all we do is think of ourselves as failing or a failure, how do you think us trying to achieve our goals will go?
We need to carry confidence, and as Roger said some arrogance into these endeavours, but not let that stop us from doing the work that’s necessary for us to get there. We need to stop being our own worst enemies.
