I’m the farthest thing from a scientist, but I have tremendous respect for those who can work that side of the brain. What I admire about scientists is how they draw conclusions. They don’t work much with feelings. They work with facts.
I recently spoke at a large university and talked with the students about negative self-talk. (If you’ve seen me speak, you’ve probably heard me talk about the “mental heckler.”) So many of them doubt their ability to compete at this high level institution. They fear the workload and question their social skills. In spite of their previous academic success, a lot of these folks are really insecure.
Scientists, I explained, form hypotheses, but they don’t draw conclusions based on their feelings. They use a systematic approach to obtaining truth. First they conduct an experiment. Then they analyze the data. Finally, a conclusion is drawn. In other words, instead of accepting their hunch as absolute truth, they take action with an outcome in mind, and then see what happens.
I think that’s a great way for us to measure ourselves. We need to approach life as an experiment. We need to put ourselves out there, pursue goals with everything we’ve got and then see how we do. Only then will we know the truth about our ability.
Think you’re not good enough? Think you’ll get rejected? Think you’ll fail? Prove it. Conduct an experiment. Take action and get the facts.
My hypothesis: You’re better than you think.
