[...]Expert is the New Normal « Steve Skojec[...]…

Thanks for reading on the weekend! And thanks for sharing your experience. That’s awesome. I love every single story where someone is told they can’t do something and they go and do it anyway. And I didn’t know that your Korean was that good. That’s amazing. Good for you!

At one point in her life, my wife was a single mom, was going to school full time, and was teaching herself DNS and BIND so that she could get into the IT industry and pull herself out of the situation she was in. She’s always worked so hard, and has been an inspiration to me.

I haven’t always worked hard. I’ve got a lazy streak a mile wide. But part of that is, I think, due to the fact that I didn’t believe I could really accomplish anything worthwhile. And if you convince yourself you’re going to fail, or that you have an excuse for not succeeding (so you can’t be blamed for your failure) then you will never really try.

I can’t say what changed in my head. Maybe it was going through a lot of hard times. Maybe it was being in a situation where I was seriously having a hard time feeding my family and was worried we were going to be out on the street. Maybe I just grew up. But now I look back at the way I used to think and I don’t really get it.

I still have plenty of insecurities. I wonder about certain jobs that other people think I can tackle and I think are too big for me. But growth is a perpetual thing. The biggest thing is to do what you said – just keep working harder, and you’ll be able to do the things you want.

I really think insecurity is one of the most significant ingredients of success. When you think you’re the shit, you’re not going to be constantly working to take it to the next level. When you worry that you’re going to fall short, or you need affirmation, or you’re a perfectionist when you look at your own work and see all the ways it could be better, then you’re going to rock it without even realizing it. Complacency is for everyone else.