Recognize Inherent Value

Feb 22, 2018

In many cases, our greatest strengths are so inherent to our natures that they are dismissed as mundane when in truth they have the potential to be your greatest asset. Use this exercise to help locate and recognize these inherent values.

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When it comes to my own growth trajectory, there are 2 issues which are recurring challenges. One is being unable to see myself clearly, and the other is not recognizing my own value. I have yet to figure out if one led to the other, or the other led to the one, but in my case they are very closely related. Until I began to see myself a bit more clearly, I was completely blind to my worth. What I have discovered is that I am not the only one blind in this regard, and for the others that I’ve seen it in I know that this blindness is independent of self-worth.

Story Time

I have a friend who is a genius at being able to clearly articulate multiple points of view in new ways so that many different parties can begin to work together more effectively. In essence, he’s a problem solver. When his company has a fire of epic proportions, they send him in to make it work. He’s very, very good at this. I was speaking to him one day and he was a bit perplexed that what he saw as obvious is what others were overlooking. He described what he did, the problem solver aspect, as being easy and therefore he couldn’t understand why others seemed to value it – a bit of imposter syndrome here. He didn’t value his own native mindset as being anything special, so why should others? Surely they would discover this for themselves and fire him, right? I had to stop him and force him to recognize that what he saw as “obvious” and “easy” was only so to HIM, not anyone else. He was failing to really, truly recognize the inherent value that was native to him. Now he’s enhanced it tremendously with training, classes and lots of practice, but the baseline perspectives and outlook that are just part of how he thinks? That’s the core value that he was dismissing as being commonplace, and it isn’t. At all.

The Point

This conversation got me to thinking about what kinds of things did I find “easy” and “obvious” and thus was puzzled when others failed to see what I could see so clearly? A few examples sprang to mind and I really wanted to dismiss them. “Oh, but that’s so obvious and easy, everybody does that.” As soon as that thought entered my head, I recognized the situation. I had to give myself the same talk I gave to my friend, and forced myself to re-assess those particular native mindsets with a new eye.

With this new insight, I was able to go back to see where these skills have been used in my life and how they impacted those I worked with. I’ll make this a bit more concrete here, since it’s been a little abstract to this point. I generally approach tasks as if they are a game and I “win” when I find faster, easier and more accurate ways to doing them. I’ve come to think of this as my “process improvement mindset”. Being able to give it a name has really helped me recognize that this is an approach that is not actually common. As a specific example, I work in a technical field. After being trained for a new job, I took over. One set of steps in this newly learned process is best described as “tedious”. I don’t do “tedious” if I can AT ALL help it. Surely, SURELY there was a better way to do this? I set about investigating options and discovered that I could write a python script which required the input of 2 variables, and done. It took me maybe 3 hours of researching and experimenting to create this script, but the end result is that what used to take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours to accomplish now takes me between 10 to 30 minutes. It completely boggled my mind that the previous many people who did this process for years never bothered to ask “what’s an easier, faster and more accurate way of doing this?” let alone then went about finding the answer. Bear in mind, I used to sincerely believe that everyone had this approach, and therefore my own accomplishments as a result of this were just par for the course. Once I stopped saying “this skill is mundane” I could then begin to look around and see it more clearly. Giving this mindset a name has made it easier and easier to actively call upon and leverage in my efforts to step up.

Here’s your homework, if you’re willing. This is not necessarily an exercise where you sit down and write. It’s more of a “keep living your life” scenario. In this one, keep on being you but start paying attention to the things you do which others don’t seem to think about. Maybe you are very organized, or like to have your schedule set in advance, or just notice tiny details which make a picture look wrong. Whatever it is, however “tiny” YOU think it is, make note of them all. It is especially noteworthy every time you find yourself being perplexed that others don’t do/see/think things as you do. And it’s gold-star noteworthy if you hear yourself attempting to dismiss your skill with something akin to “but everybody can do this…” When you hear those words, picture a big red flag waving around. This isn’t a warning flag, it’s a PAY ATTENTION TO THIS flag.

This homework assignment is a collection game. Just collect these observations. Write them down if you want, or keep a mental tally. But if you ever find yourself saying “but everybody…” stop that train of thought right there. Go no farther. If that statement were even remotely true, you wouldn’t be perplexed that others aren’t doing it.

Once you’ve collected a few examples and halted the dismissive thoughts, see if you can start cataloging what others are saying about the aspects you’ve been noticing. Again, just catalog. You might find it easier to name each of the skills that you are tracking.

In my experience with this personal growth game, only by DOING could I build an experience log of past actions which is used to bolster further actions. I am giving you an exercise here which does essentially the same thing, but what’s being built a catalog of the strengths which are uniquely yours. Adding in the tidbits of how others view those strengths will further flesh out the catalog and hopefully help provide a larger perspective so that you can own and ultimately leverage this inherent value actively as you continue to pursue your own growth and expansion.

Video

Video is now also available through the YouTube Channel. The background during the speaking portion is a close-up of my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank at feeding time, so it’s relaxing and still fun to watch.

About the Image

I’m a hobby aquarist, having grown up with tanks. According to my mom, “fishy” was my 1st word after “mom” and “dad”. This is one of my fancy guppies, a young sunset tequila male. His value seems obvious, but what do his own eyes show him? Does he see for himself what others so clearly can?