During the past 11 months, I've experienced my fair share of professional rejection. On my best days, I look at the positions which recruiters have thought I was a good fit for (and the hiring managers have not) and see the holes in my experience. On my worst days, I sulk and resign that my career has been a waste and I have nothing to offer anyone outside of where I currently am. Logical me considers continuing education certificates that could fill said gaps. Illogical me resigns I've come to the end of my professional road.
Given the scenario I just explained, I've been spending more time on LinkedIn trying to soak up the professional knowledge so freely shared on the platform. As I scrolled down my feed recently, I came across a snippet of an interview on Heneka Watkis-Porter's podcast, The Entrepreneurial You, with Dr. Cheryl Wood, Founder of VOCALIZE Women Speakers Academy, that made my ears perk up.
“The most negative mindset is I'm not good enough," the communication expert stated. "I'm not capable. I'm not worthy just as I am. I need more. I need something more. So they keep going out trying to find the next thing and the next thing and get more and get another degree and get another certification. And, believe me, ongoing education and knowledge is so critical, so important, right? We have to continue to edify ourselves. However, someone somewhere is waiting on what you already know and they're waiting on that right now.
So you gotta get out of that mind-frame that you are not good enough just because there are people who are already 20 steps ahead of you. Guess what? Everybody's not at that level where they're ready to invest in that coach who's already 20 steps ahead of you. There are some people who are at the beginning of their journey who need what you know right now because you know more than they know. So get that out of your mind. You are enough. You are capable. You are worthy just as you are."
I can't say I feel compelled to editorialize Dr. Woods' words much because she perfectly stated everything most of us know somewhere within but need to be reminded of: "Someone somewhere is waiting on what you already know and they're waiting on that right now." In other words, whatever idea, project, talent, expertise you're sitting on, unearth it. Now.
Listen to the full podcast here.