Do Not Overestimate the Competition and Underestimate Yourself

Following my last post some readers asked how I achieved self worth. It’s a fair question, but the answer is more complex than can be written down in a few sentences.

Instead I’ll tell you one of the core moments that helped define my work, my creativity, and my overall standing in the universe (stick with me, it’s a whole lot less wacky than it sounds).

The 4-Hour Work Week is a great book. Nowadays it’s fair to say some (but not all) of the practical points within the book are somewhat outdated due to the fast-paced nature of the Internet. The theory behind it all, however, is still there.

The couple of paragraphs below, taken from the book, resonated with me more than anything else I’ve read in as far back as I can remember. It’s been in the back of my mind ever since I first read it, and I hope it will have the same effect on you.

Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they aren’t capable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals, paradoxically making them the more time – and energy – consuming.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself.

Amber Rae recently wrote about her experiences working for The Domino Project, the Amazon powered publishing experiment headed by bestselling author Seth Godin.

In the piece Amber wrote that people ask her all the time what it was like working with Seth, and she is often stuck for an answer. “He cooked us lunch every day”, she says, “He types harder on his keyboard than anyone I know… he’s wicked smart… he’s an incredible man.”

But when it comes down to it, she noted:

Even the smartest, most inspirational, and most revered people are just that… people.

I’ll leave it to Steve to drive the message home.

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