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Why I Love to Be Underestimated
Sometimes casual disrespect can be highly motivating.
I used to let people talk down to me a lot. I believed people when they told me they were better than me. I found it disheartening, but I thought they were right.
It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t believe you can do something, you may not even try. Your efforts are affected by your attitude. You perceive any failure as justification that you can’t do this thing. With this mindset, you don’t understand failing is part of the plan.
You apologize for even trying.
I picked up a few habits in the last few years that I value immensely. One is simply how I now view this kind of disrespect. I still fail as often as before; the difference now is that I believe in myself. If I work hard, I will achieve what I try to do…. Eventually.
I realized nobody can use their words or assumptions to stop that.
You probably know what kind of moments I’m talking about. They occur almost every day for some people. On the court of a sporting event, in your workplace, even amongst friends. Something that has helped me immensely is the practice of transferring the energy of these moments into motivation to do better. To prove these types of people wrong.
These days I take a guilty pleasure from these moments. There is no anger, no hard feelings. Only laser-sharp focus and motivation. The perpetrator that carelessly underestimates is the one who is mistaken. If you believe that, it can feel very empowering.
Laugh it off… because I’m going to work harder than you and win.. one day.
These days, when faced with this kind of experience, I feel like I know something that they don’t. I feel excited for the moment their perception is shifted. I hope they can learn a lesson.
I accept others might have an entirely different view. It almost sounds like I’m letting my detractors guide my actions. It’s not like that. Whether I ultimately win in the end, whatever winning is, redirecting this frustration is valuable fuel for me to work on myself and any fuel that keeps me on task is useful in my book.
I’ve tried playing the Jedi or Buddhist monk by simply letting go, but it doesn’t work for me. What seems to work for me is this type of redirection. I don’t see it as a negative thing at all.
Do you get motivated by being underestimated? Or does it get under your skin? Let me know your thoughts!
I’d like to offer a shout-out to Umme Salma for her story How Difficult People Play An Important Role In Crafting Your Story?
Her article made me very thoughtful about this topic and ultimately led me to write and share my own feelings.
