December 2, 2015
THOUGHTS
If you accept a penny for your thoughts, you
sell yourself cheap. - Unknown
When I was a young woman, I missed out on a job
promotion because I didn’t believe I could do it.
I had that belief due to what others had told me
most of my life when I would share a dream or desire of something I wanted to
do. People were quick to tell me I was wasting my time, I wouldn’t be able to
do it, no one would care, who would listen to me, or you don’t have the
knowledge or what it takes to do that.
The result was that after listening to those
types of comments while growing up, I began to believe it. I forgot what my
grandfather told me when I was a very young girl of about seven. “Big Gean, if
you learn to read, and there is no one around to teach you what you need to
know, then find a book at the library and teach yourself.”
We are so quick to accept negative thoughts as
truths even when we know better. I loved my grandfather and he believed I could do
anything I set my mind to. No one other than my father, ever seemed to believe
or say that and unfortunately, I was angry at my father for leaving us, so I
was not going to listen to anything he said and my grandfather died the next
year.
So I sold myself cheap, because I forgot what my
grandfather had said and I didn’t want to listen to my father. When my supervisor
offered the position of being her assistant supervisor, the first words out of
my mouth were, “Oh! I can’t do that; I don’t know anything about doing that job,
no one would be willing to listen to me.”
Because of my limiting belief of my abilities,
the position went to someone else. If you are ever offered the opportunity to
better yourself, here is what I suggest you do:
1. Thank the individual for their trust and faith in your ability to do the job or whatever it is being
offered.
2. If you feel you don’t
know how to do the job, say, “I would love your help in learning to do this job
the way you want and if there are classes I can take to be better at performing
my responsibilities, I’m willing to do whatever will help me do a good job.”
3. Take action and do what
you need to do to be the best you can be.
I had to learn this lesson the hard way and I’m
sorry to say, there were a few more hard knocks, before I actually learned the
lesson. These are stories I will share at a later time. For now, don’t make my mistakes.
Find someone who is doing what you want to do and ask that person if they would
be willing to be your mentor.
I was willing to accept a penny because I
believed that was all I was worth and that was what life offered me. I am proud to say, I left that belief behind
years ago with the help of a good mentor and friend, Velma Stokely. Over the
next few weeks and months I will share how Mrs. Stokely and others helped me
to see I could do whatever I believed I could do and some of the great
successes I was able to achieve all because I changed how I saw myself and my self-worth.
Until next time, have a great day. lw