Good Life Project - Life-sucking Lie #2: I’m Not Good Enough.

Episode Date: May 28, 2015

How often have you told yourself, "I'm not good enough, old enough, accomplished enough, credentialed enough, or any other 'enough' to get paid real money or get the gig I want more than anyone else?"Newsflash, there's a good chance you're right.It may well be true that there ARE indeed plenty of other people and organizations who are better at what you do than you are. But, there's also a dirty little secret in the world of business and success.Very often the job, opportunity, gig does not go to the most qualified person. You can still get the plum position, sweet job and serious paycheck if you understand why.In today's Good Life Riff, we're busting the old "I'm not good enough" myth and revealing what matters, oftentimes even more than qualifications.So, stop beating yourself up for being "along the road to higher value." And start understanding what people really want and what you need to give them to create the opportunities you most desire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You know, I'm just not smart enough. There are a million smarter, more qualified, credentialed people and companies that do the exact same thing. People want the best, and I'm not the best. So why bother? This is something that's said to me so many times as an excuse for inaction. In today's Good Life Project short riff, we're going to dive into and deconstruct this as another in the lies that keep us from success. I'm Jonathan Fields. This is Good

Life Project. So let's kind of dive into it and deconstruct it a little bit. And rather than make this another rah-rah, you're so cool, confidence-building session, let's do something a bit radical. So here's the thing. When you say, I'm not smart enough, there are a million smarter, more qualified, credentialed people and companies that do the same thing, you may be right, at least about you not being the smartest fish in the pond. You may not, in fact, be the smartest, the most experienced person in your space. You may be a total newbie or somewhere on the path to craft and mastery.

No doubt, you still need to raise your skill level to a certain baseline of value before you can command value in exchange for what you offer. But here's the reality about who gets the gig in the world of business. The vast majority of the time, the win goes not to the smartest, but the most responsive person. The one who shows up first, the one who returns the calls or the text or the email, the one who gets the need and speaks to it. I cannot tell you how many times I've left a string of messages for potential vendors saying, hey, essentially, I've got money to spend, and only one calls back. As an entrepreneur who's a bit obsessed with service and growth dynamics, I just don't get that. But guess what? That's how most people and businesses operate. Sadly, extreme responsiveness

has become the exception and not the rule. So guess who most often really gets the gig? The one who shows me they want my business. Are there better people or vendors out there on a pure skill level? Very likely. But people don't buy skill in a vacuum. They buy skill plus care. Keep on honing your craft, building towards mastery. Don't think for a minute, though, that being on the road to excellence is a barrier to being paid.

Exalt responsiveness in the early days, and you'll be blown away by how competitive you can become with those supposed more experienced, better qualified, and smarter big kids on the block. So over to you now. Curious, have you experienced this? Either on the side of seeking to hire someone or serving at a level of responsiveness that allowed you to operate in an arena you thought you'd have just been shut out of based on your current level of skill. Feel free to share your thoughts around social media.

And if this conversation resonates with you, feel free to share this episode with whatever communities you think might find it valuable. And as always, we'd love it. I would love it. I'd so appreciate if it makes sense, if you could head on over to iTunes and just share a quick review. I'm Jonathan Fields, signing off for Good Life Project. Thank you.