Man is a social animal. But being in the company of others, can often dent one’s self confidence.
You may have got into Harvard/Yale/Stanford, only to realise how much more brilliant than you some students are. You may have picked up the guitar at 30 or 50, only to realise YouTube is full of child prodigies. You may think you sing well, but find out your neighbour’s kid just got selected to The Voice / Idol. You may be good at working your excel sheets, only to realise the new kids on the block also code VBA and Python with Excel. You have been working on your foreign language skills the last 2 years, when an ultra-learner does an immersion program for 6 months and gets hired as an interpreter. You may have been taking baking classes the last many years, but the neighbour that recently moved in sets up shop and sells the most delicious cakes.
None of this is inherently bad, until it gets to you. The feeling that you are losing the race. The feeling that everyone is better than you. The feeling that you are incompetent. The negatives can spiral fast.
What to do? Simple. Forget perfection. Aim for diversity. And combine them skills all into one package – you! I call this the Mosaic Man.
You may not be the best in each of the things you do. But as a package – Harvard + guitarist + singer + excel noob + French speaker + baking-lover —> there is only 1 you!
We each must list down our skills, and string them together into a package. No packages in the world are exactly alike – with the same background, life experiences, skills and ambitions. Therefore our packages are unique, and awesome.
We can and must also keep adding to our skills package. Because variety is the spice of life. Go create your own mosaic!
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