It's Good To Have an Internal Devil's Advocate
Most of us have met at least one person whose self-image bears very little resemblance to reality. They’ll tell you all kinds of things about themselves: “I’m a very honest person,” “I’m very thorough,” “I’m very organized,” “I have an excellent memory,” – but you know from experience that these statements don’t really hold up to close scrutiny.
The truth is, we’re all guilty of this to some extent. We all have frailties we don’t recognize, and we all think we have strengths that just aren’t there.
It's a key to personal and business success
One of the fundamentals in achieving success in both our business and personal lives is to have a clear understanding of who we are and what our strengths and weaknesses are. The better our grasp on these, the more effectively we can leverage them to attain our goals. Equally true is that, the more we delude ourselves, the more we hinder our journey to success. And most of us delude ourselves far more than we realize.
One way to mitigate this is to nurture a default ‘Devil’s Advocate’ in our brains – a little internal voice that challenges our own assertions and forces us to support them. So, for example, the next time you say something like, “I’m a very organized person,” it’s the voice that pops into your head saying, “Oh yeah? What about the time that you...”
An enlightening process that helps your self-confidence
It can be quite enlightening when you have the courage to let this thought process take place. You start to develop a clearer picture of your relationship with the world around you – and can begin to see challenges and opportunities you’d been missing. It’s not about beating yourself up or using negative self-talk. It’s about learning to accept yourself – warts and all.
We don’t just delude ourselves about our weaknesses, of course. Most of us are equally guilty of denying our strengths. We’ve all heard people say things like: “I’m not very creative,” “I’m not good with numbers,” “I’m not good at explaining things.” – but you know from experience that they are.
The inability or unwillingness to recognize our strengths impacts our self confidence – and ultimately our futures.
All this to say: Don’t be afraid to continually challenge your self-image, both good and bad. Either way, you end up better off.
