There’s a story a lot of people carry around.
Sometimes for years.
Sometimes for decades.
And sometimes without even realizing how often it makes decisions for them.
“I’m not enough.”
I’m not good enough.
Smart enough.
Experienced enough.
Successful enough.
Confident enough.
Attractive enough.
Ready enough.
I’m not enough to ________.
You can probably fill in that blank.
And here’s what’s interesting:
You probably weren’t born believing that.
Something happened.
An experience became a story.
The story got repeated.
And eventually, the story started feeling like the truth.
That’s when it becomes a trap.
And I’ve noticed three of them.
“I’m not as good as them.”
We compare our beginning to somebody else’s middle.
Our private doubts to their public confidence.
Our backstage to their highlight reel.
Someone else seems more successful.
More confident.
More attractive.
More experienced.
More together.
And without realizing it, we make a dangerous little jump:
“They’re doing better than me…”
becomes:
“There must be something wrong with me.”
And then:
“I’m not enough.”
The comparison started outside of us.
But the conclusion becomes a story about who we are.
“I need to be more before I can…”
More experienced.
More confident.
More successful.
More educated.
More prepared.
Then I’ll start.
Then I’ll apply.
Then I’ll speak up.
Then I’ll create it.
Then I’ll make the change.
Or as Gerry Rafferty sang in “Baker Street”:
”Another year and then you'd be happy
Just one more year and then you'd be happy
But you're cryin', you're cryin' now.”
Except something funny happens every time we get close to the starting line…
We move it.
There’s always one more thing we need to learn.
One more credential.
One more bit of confidence.
One more sign that tells us:
“Okay. NOW you’re enough.”
And meanwhile, the thing we really want to do remains undone.
This one can run deep.
“If they didn’t choose me, there must be something wrong with me.”
Someone left.
Someone criticized you.
Someone didn’t hire you.
Someone rejected your idea.
Someone didn’t love you the way you needed.
Something didn’t work.
And without realizing it, we take an event and turn it into an identity.
“I wasn’t chosen.”
becomes…
“I’m not enough.”
“I failed at this.”
becomes…
“I’m a failure.”
“They didn’t want me.”
becomes…
“Nobody will want me.”
Something happened.
Then we created a story about what that something meant about us.
And sometimes we’ve been carrying that story ever since.
That’s what we’re going to explore this week on Your Next Chapter LIVE.
Because recognizing the trap is only the beginning.
And then things can get REALLY interesting because you don’t have to suddenly wake up tomorrow morning completely convinced:
“I AM ENOUGH!”
You don’t have to solve your whole life.
You don’t have to know how the whole journey works out.
There’s a much smaller question we can ask.
And it might be the question that changes everything:
That’s where we’re going Thursday.
This Thursday on Your Next Chapter LIVE, we’re digging into:
We’ll look at where that story comes from…
how it quietly keeps us stuck…
and most importantly, how we begin rewriting it.
Because you may not need more confidence.
You may not need more qualifications.
You may not need somebody else’s approval.
You might simply need a different story.
Join me LIVE Thursday at 4:30 PM ET
Bring your “I’m not enough to ________” story.
We might just start writing your next chapter together.
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