Success comes in small doses, so appreciate yourself

Kampala

Do you hardly accept your success? Do feelings of self doubt persist even when you achieve key milestones? Do your detractors attribute your success to luck? Cheer up. There are many achievers who are unable to take compliments for a job well done like academic excellence, acknowledgment or promotions. We all have to learn to appreciate ourselves. Rita Nampala (not real names), 23, a second year university student won the ‘Personality of the Year’ accolade, but never believed that she was the best candidate for it.

Being a hardworking lady, she also knew that she could accomplish whatever she set her mind to achieve; and her colleagues appreciated her attributes. Unfortunately, she always feels inadequate and always wonders whether there aren’t better candidates for the award.

Solid background
Despite having a track record of excelling in whatever endeavours she undertakes, she remains afraid that she won’t live up to people’s expectations. During high school, she won favour from the administrators; earning herself the position of head prefect. Feelings of self doubt however followed her to university. So what could be the problem? Individual self assessment as a skill is not easy to develop. Too many people miss out on promotions and career development through self denigration.

According to Mr Edgar Mbahamiza, the a human resource and administration manager at Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), such a mindset usually afflict people who set unattainable goals. “Such a person sets very high objectives and expects to achieve too much to the extent that he or she is not confident in his or her abilities anymore,” he notes.

Mr Richard Namakola, a manager at Stanbic Bank says it is not easy to evaluate oneself objectively and virtually everyone experiences self doubt at some stage in life. “It’s not easy for one to realise that there is a possibility of failing on the way to success. This happens when you quietly carry on feelings of uncertainty; such that when stressed you just withdraw from others rather than addressing the issue immediately,” Namakola asserts.

Self assessment
The few who take the courage to assess themselves are usually biased and don’t give an objective assessment of themselves. Apart from that, there is a possibility that you set your goals too high that you can’t achieve them. “If you expect too much such yet you’re not confident in yourself, you’re likely to be affected by this attitude,” he told Jobs and Career.

Failure to get recognition is another cause of self doubt. “Some people believe that they work so hard and yet their supervisors don’t help them appreciate their contributions. Instead, they are domineering over the subordinates; making them resort to silence,” Namakola says.

Not a risk taker: Some people are naturally afraid of venturing into new responsibilities because of the changes associated. This attitude is dangerous because such people hardly welcome promotions, thinking that the employer has done them an injustice. “There are people who are naturally scared of what others would call small issues like sitting at the front desk because of personality problems. When they join leadership positions, the employer has an added task of helping such an individual grow,” he adds.

In other words, they prefer staying at the same level because they’ve come to believe that it’s only a selected few who deserve such positions. This attitude also develops when someone takes on a new position and is expected to perform relatively better than the previous employee. The key to good career development, is having a well rounded personality that appreciates success in small doses.