Our Strongest Points Are Our Weakest (aka Quote of the Day)

Taken from Paulo Coelho's "The Pilgrimage", with slight change. A bit of a paradox, some of you might say, but if you've read the book, you'll at least understand what he's getting at.

It's kinda hard to explain, so maybe an example will help.

Take me, for instance. I like to call myself a writer. I love writing, and truthfully, I think I'm pretty good at it. Sports, on the other hand, I'm not very good at. You could say it's my weakness. That being the case, I work hard to cover it - being a guy, I don't want to face the humiliation of being bad at sports. So I train myself, try out different sports until I can do it.
In any case, when people criticize or comment on me for not being good at sports, I just shrug them off, because it's a fact I already know. But once someone criticizes my writing, on the other hand, I become hurt, lose my self confidence. In other words, I react more to my "strong point" being attacked than my "weak point".

If that example didn't illustrate it well enough, get yourself a copy of "The Pilgrimage". It does a much better job, believe me.

My point (I think) is that so often we take too much pride in ourselves, in our abilities, and fear too much for our weaknesses, that we forget that we're not perfect. There's always something or someone better. Once we become too confident that we're "good enough", we feel that we've lost everything when we realize that somebody is better. I suppose that's where they coined the phrase "Pride comes before the fall" from.

This is why people such as athletes, musicians, etc, never claim that they're the best (the good ones, at least); they have this sense of humility. They take the praise and criticism, and use it to push themselves forward. They never stop trying to be better.
It's because of this, that when I hear someone say to me, "I'm really good at..." I'd have my doubts, compared to someone who says, "I can do.... but I'm not that good."; the one who says they're good might actually be good, but that also means that they're not trying to be any better. The second person could also be good, but then again could also suck. But the important thing is, that they realize that they could be better/there's someone better than themselves.

In simple terms, 1st person= arrogant, 2nd person= humble. Guess who's more likable.


You know, for some reason I think that same pride is the reason why people don't like psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts of any kind: they don't want to hear that someone else knows more about themselves than they do. I don't know about you, but I'm ready enough to admit that I don't want to have someone tell me what kind of person I am, especially if they're right. I (and maybe most of the world) would like to think that the person who knows most about me is myself.

But I digress. Back to the point, when we think we're ready, or capable, or good enough, is actually showing that we aren't. Now I'm not asking you to think that you're all dumb, no. I am asking you (and myself), to look at ourselves, look at both the things we think we're good at, and the things we aren't, and ask ourselves: Can I do better?

Think about it.
-Zet

P.S:
I think I found a new motto. XD