A friend of mine said something really interesting me to the other day and it got me thinking. Like a lot of 20 somethings tend to do, we got into a discussion about the future and our goals. I shared my thoughts on some of my work, as did he, and I made a comment along the lines of feeling like I was good at what I do and wanted to keep doing it. His response caught me off guard. Roughly quoted, he basically said, "Of course you do, because if you didn't know you succeeded at that, you wouldn't be good enough at it."
Interesting... Is part of success knowing what you succeed at? Well, when I spell it out like that, it seems pretty obvious. But, how rarely I have taken the time to acknowledge that crucial aspect of success. Just as it is important to acknowledge and learn from failure, it is probably a good idea to log and learn from successes.
When you're passionate about something that you are good at, you would be foolish to ignore your skill sets. Eventually, just as we have to be realistic about where our weaknesses are, we have to acknowledge where our strengths lie. And when we approach tasks and opportunities with the confidence that comes from that acknowledgement, we're setting ourselves up for further success.
Think about it. How many times do we pick up a book because we "trust the author", or watch a movie because we "love that director"? If we can invest that confidence in others, we should probably spend a little time investing it in ourselves. It's not arrogant, it's confident. And it makes us better at what we do.
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