There’s a poisonous assumption you see in business, which goes something like this:
I’m the best, but the world’s unfair, so I don’t get the results I deserve.
I think we’re pretty much all guilty of it. Nobody ever admits that they are where they are because they deserve to be. Nobody ever thinks the market is judging them fairly. And sure-as-hell nobody ever thinks that perhaps they might be performing better than their abilities warrant.
Nope, everybody is a couple of clicks below where they “should” be if there was any justice.
Funny that, eh?
I know this sense of unjustified injustice intimately, because I’ve long thought it about myself.
I should have bigger clients.
I should have bigger billings.
I should have more followers.
I should have more subscribers.
Believe me, I’m intimately familiar with the disease. And that’s why I feel I can speak from experience when I invite you to consider:
What if you are exactly where you deserve to be?
What if the market is actually treating you fairly?
What if you’re actually just not that good?
Well, I’ve got some bad news for you: this is probably true. You probably aren’t the victim of injustice. Your richer competitors probably aren’t just “lucky”. You’re probably earning just the right amount. No more, no less. Your results are probably an accurate reflection of your worth.
You, in fact, are not enough.
Ouch.
But don’t worry, I have some good news too. This bomb I’ve just dropped? This horrible possibility that the market is just? It isn’t bad news at all.
In fact it’s fucking fantastic.
You see, this delusion that we all harbour – this delusion that we’re better than we really are – is a trap. A horrible one. It’s a trap that makes us feel like we’re “complete” and “full” in our abilities, and that we have nothing left to learn. This in turn makes us feel like we have limited options. Like there is nothing we can do to grow, to make more sales, to get more clients. We’re already great, and it’s not working, so we’re screwed!
It’s a deeply disempowering belief to have. It makes us feel helpless.
But the belief that we’re getting what we deserve?
This is the opposite.
This is empowering.
Massively so.
This means we have so much more to learn. So much more to improve. So much more to add. It means we aren’t in fact complete; we’re a work in progress. We have headroom. We are a vessel that is only half full, and that is still near the start of its journey, rather than near the end.
Understanding this transforms the way we think about growth.
We realise that far from being this opaque, unpredictable, unfair game, it’s in fact a simple correlation with our abilities. That means that if we want more growth, all we have to do is improve. All we have to do is learn.
Look at my own example.
At the start of this year I thought I was creating this “amazing” content, but I had very little traction. A disempowering belief to have.
But then I:
• Did THREE courses on Linkedin
• Studied copywriting
• Dug deep into the analytics of my posts
• Worked with some coaches
…and now I’ve got a big fat audience.
This all came from accepting that I wasn’t good enough. And now, when I look back on the posts I was doing at the start of the year, it’s clear to me why they weren’t performing. They were, in fact, getting the attention they deserved.
You have to believe this.
You have to believe that the market is just.
You have to believe that its feedback is accurate.
If you don’t, then why would you even play the game? Why would you participate in a system that is so manifestly unfair, that is just the roll of a dice? What a colossal waste of time that would be!
So my impassioned plea to you is this. Stop thinking you’re the best. Stop thinking your business is the best. Stop thinking you’re complete. Stop thinking your business is complete. Open your eyes to all that you’re bad at – to all there is to learn.
Do this, and growth is at your fingertips; as simple as filling your vessel.
