How to Recognise the Value you Could Bring to the World

The cross I bare most painfully right now is one of comparison, where I look at the skills I don’t have and value them far higher than those that I do

I realise this is not unique to me, rather it is an existential issue faced by almost every entrepreneur at some point on their journey.

Doubt and worry are frequently the default position of the startup founder; where will the next fire arise from, what competitive adversary will begin to compete with us, what legal boundaries will impose their limit in our sphere of operation? Doubt and worry are the most intimate bedfellows on any path to success. They should be tolerated if not accepted.

Comparative negative assumption is something far more insidious

It is far worse because it isn’t true; it is a self-imposed obstacle which negates our own progress. It’s like a professional ‘grass is always greener on the other side’ where we undervalue ourselves and overvalue those with skills juxtaposed to our own.

It’s not something we need to accept though, we can reject this position and understand the uniqueness of our own capabilities. We just don’t see it because the appearance everyone portrays is one of overwhelming competence. To admit weakness or gaps in our knowledge is to embrace defeat.

Here’s the other thing, you do not need all the skills. You might think you have to do everything but a great startup never grew from an standalone individual. We may live in a world which promotes founders as deities but what they stand atop was nourished by an army of individual.

What makes exceptional CEO’s stand out ahead of their more average contemporaries is their relentless drive to find people with the skills they lack and enabling them to succeed. Good CEO’s employ good people. Great CEO’s understand their own inadequacies and our brave enough to hire people better than them for the greater good of the company.

Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always…