Ever tell yourself that? This is stupid.
This post? This deck? This presentation? This proposal? This paper? This project? This idea? This (you fill in the blank).
If you are following the script or playbook to the letter the internal conversation may not occur frequently.
When you are writing the script or inventing the playbook the “this is stupid” conversation happens.
It happens to some of the most talented people I know.
I just discovered this recently. I thought it was just me. I thought there simply couldn’t be other people that, at 1 a.m. the night before a presentation, would look at the deck they have been preparing for the last 3 weeks and suddenly convince themselves “this is stupid.” {TIP: don’t rebuild the deck from scratch at 1:00 a.m., trust me, that really is stupid}
I have given literally thousands of presentations. I can still get throw up nervous.
That voice. That fear. That doubt. That insecurity. The Lizard Brain. It exists. Inside most of us that are creating.
When the voice whispers I am trying to answer with a resounding, SO WHAT! (I didn’t invent the idea but I like the advice).
So what if this post is stupid? Tomorrow I will write another.
So what if someone thinks this speech is stupid? Later this week I will give another.
So what if this proposal is stupid ? I will learn from it and I will make the next one better.
This is stupid? So what? In truth it just doesn’t matter all that much to anyone else. It comes. It goes.
The good news is I am not stupid. Neither are you.
The next time that voice whispers, answer with a resounding, So What! And keeping right on going.
Chances are it really isn’t all that stupid. And the little voice?
Chances are the little voice is wrong.
