Unknown artist
Too many people self-limit their potential. How? Deep down, they devalue what they objectively possess. If you don't value yourself, why should others treat you any better? It's no wonder that a founder is hesitant to make a super offer to an enterprise client, a top manager is afraid to bring up compensation with the owner, or a coach gets too few leads. Imagine a patient's reaction if their surgeon hesitantly mumbles something and wipes sweat from their forehead with trembling fingers before administering general anesthesia. Right, he'd want to run far away.
In my observation, in 99% of cases, the belief in one's own inferiority is a lie. Yes, there are plenty of people in the world who are significantly better than us in certain attributes. But they are somewhere out there, while you are here. Hypothetically, your investor, client, or boss could find and collaborate with an ideal version of you, but practically it's impossible, as the search for perfection would consume a lot of their resources even in the age of the internet. If you're drowning, does it matter if the hand offering a lifeline has a manicure? The most important thing is that this kind person happens to be nearby.
In business, timing is everything, just like in boxing or stand-up. What matters is not the perfect form of delivery, but functional utility. Profit, knockout, or laughter, here and now, are the metrics of success, not speculative comparisons with someone in a parallel universe. So the question is not whether you are perfect, but whether you can provide enough value for your client, boss, or investor when they need it the most.
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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