Cover Photo by @larm on Unsplash
I am certainly not the most “successful” person in life and in business, but over the course of the last 8 months, I’ve grown to be a better person both in life and in business.
I never thought that someday I would even write on that subject, or that some people would even listen to what I had to say.
I had never really considered myself to be that different from the others. I mean, I still don’t consider myself to be that different.
Just like everyone else, I have flaws and weaknesses, which at the time, I thought was my reason for not being particularly interesting, and was probably the cause for me to not be as “successful” as I hoped I would be.
I was wrong.
After writing on Medium for 3 months today, I realized that the reason I managed to do that was not because I’m skilled at writing or my topics are interesting or different, because they really aren’t. Many other writers here inspire me to write about the same topic they do.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal” — Pablo Picasso
A lot of times, I am literally stealing subjects from other great writers.
So why is it that, even though I write about the same things as others and I don’t have any particular writing talents, I still managed to grow my user base as a writer, and even published my first book yesterday, which got the most incredible review by Prithviraj Pillai: The Most Realistic Self Help Book Ever?
Why is it that, even though I’m a skinny ectomorph, I still managed to gain 5kg in one month?
Why is it that, even though I’m almost purely a logical person, I can now draw, take photos and write semi-professionally (not drawing, yet)?
I didn’t have the answers to those questions until quite recently.
You see, most people are pretty good at telling their strengths, whether they are right or not. But who truly recognizes their weaknesses and dare challenge the thought that you can’t change them?
Well, I did. And a lot of people you and I consider “successful” also did.
Making Yourself Vulnerable
That is a good starting point for your journey to growth.
Start by recognizing your weaknesses and bring them forward. Stop hiding them. Show them to the world.
Arnold Schwarzenegger became the top bodybuilder because he recognized he had weak calves, and started exposing them to the world. He was ashamed of them. He didn’t really want people to see them. He had to work hard on them so people would stop judging.
How often do you dare to be so vulnerable and show your weaknesses to the world?
Very rarely right?
In our society, we always have to show ourselves in our best light. Yet that is precisely what’s holding us back in our growth.
We are who we are because of both our strengths and weaknesses. And if you lie to yourself and to the world about your weaknesses, you won’t ever grow into what you really want to be.
I started showing my more vulnerable side 3 months ago when I started writing. Writing about myself still makes me uncomfortable.
But by exposing that less-than-perfect side of me, I’ve grown in ways I never thought I would.
Because it’s out in the open and everyone can see what I write, I’m accountable for the things I say I do. I don’t want to write about things I don’t do or don’t believe in. I write about my experiences, good or bad, and 90% of the time, it’s when I expose the bad that I grow as a person.
People who read what I write appreciate the honesty and vulnerability I show in my writing. They relate to my failures.
I gained 5kg of mass in one month by daring to show my weaknesses and by working epically (is that even a word?) hard on them.
I managed to do creative things like drawing, taking photos and writing by recognizing it was “against my personality” and finding ways to make it work for me. I didn’t give up because it was hard or “impossible” for a person with my personality.
Photo was taken a week ago for Sundara at the Z.P. Urdu school
I don’t like doing tests that categorize a person based on answers they give to a quiz, but I did just that yesterday. Here’s my result: Logician.
While I agree with most of the results, it falls short on still quite a few points. For those of you reading this, would you guess that I’m a Logician?
Probably not.
A Logician would not write like I do.
It’s against a Logician’s nature.
See my point?
Conclusion
I reject the idea that we’re stuck with the personality we have at any point in time. We’re very adaptable people and we can change, for better or worse. In fact, we change on a daily basis.
Recognize your weaknesses, make yourself vulnerable, and work on your pain points. You’ll see your growth accelerate at a pace you never imagined would be possible.
Anyone can do this. Don’t hide in the dark. Set your ego or modesty aside and show the world that, like everyone else, you are not perfect. You are vulnerable like everyone else.
You can do this!
Thanks for reading! :)