Where’s the line between knowing your weaknesses and self-deprecation?

It’s been a really short week with Shavuos, and I still wanted to send you something this week. So here’s a short and sweet thought for you that I’ve been pondering these last few days.

I’ve been working on a new class I want to give you, my dear ladies. It’s still in the works, so I don’t have a date yet of when I plan to give it.

While I was doing some research for it, I came across a tool that gave me a huge insight into how I manage my time…or rather, how poorly I manage my time. 🙂

When I realized this, my face felt like it was beet red and I got a bit lightheaded.

I felt SO embarrassed (to myself!) about how much I obviously need to improve in this particular area.

I started doubting myself…

“How can I be a coach when I have so much I need to work on?”

“What will my clients think of me?”

“I’ll never work this out…”

Y’know what happened?

All these thoughts made me feel WORSE about myself!

We often think that in order to be real about where we’re holding, and how much we need to improve, we need to include a few doses of self-deprecation.

The thing is, I know first hand that beating ourselves up doesn’t work. If it DID work, I’d be perfect already!

And to quote myself, here’s what I wrote to a prospective client last week:

“As for your question about readiness: you do need to be “ready” to do this work. As people and not robots, we have our ebbs and flows with inspiration and motivation, which is totally normal. However, we have to put in the work to allow the inspiration to continue flowing. I have a policy with my program that we don’t beat ourselves up — meaning, we’re here because we want to grow and change, and at the same time, we know that growth and change is a process and not a quick fix. There are ups and downs. Forwards and backwards. And so during those “backwards” moments, instead of fighting with ourselves about “ugh here I am again”, we are trying to move to a place where we can accept ourselves for being human and not perfect, and pick ourselves back up when we’re ready and keep going.”

So, sitting there with these thoughts, I took a deep breath and started thinking more constructively: What is true about this statement, and how can I turn this around into something more productive?

The truth: I have lots to work on.

The turnarounds:

Baruch Hashem there is still so much work for me to do in this world!

and

I am a better coach RIGHT NOW because I have recognized another area I can work on, PLUS I now have a great tool to help me get there.