TOW: Believe in Me

I spent a lot of this week being unable to sleep, thanks to a broken air conditioner and a minor heat wave (Going from a sweet 21 degrees to 27 when it's 'cool' is a bit of an adjustment...) and my energy levels were really low.  There were things I wanted to do, but I just didn't feel motivated.  I did just above the bare minimum this week and it sucks when that happens. 

Then I finally got a call from a client I had submitted a proposal to something like a week ago, and they just assumed it was fine and asked me for all the things I wanted to hear.  "Can you do this?  Can you start this without me?  Etc."  Suddenly, I have energy and I'm a lot happier than I was in the middle of the week.  (And thankfully the A/C now works again.  Whew!)

The difference between the middle of this week and the end of this week is pretty simple.  Someone believed in me and asked for my help. 

I don't know what it is like for other people, but I definitely have a hero complex.  I like helping people, to a fault, and that's ok with me.  But the thing that's really tough for me, and I think for almost everyone except perhaps the delusional, is when I feel like no one believes in me, in what I'm doing, in who I am.  There's nothing quite as invalidating as someone telling you you're nothing, and the opposite, at least for me, is super validating.  There's nothing I like more than someone believing in me.

Of course, this isn't the same as believing in myself (I do that just fine, thanks).  But part of the reason I like a lot of the work I do and I like working for myself is because I view a lot of the work I do as helping someone else achieve a goal they have.  And the better I get at the work I do, and the more experience I have, the more I tend to be able to validate those beliefs that people have in me.  And there's nothing as satisfying, not quite, as being able to to make real the beliefs people have in you.  We do that when we make commitments, and keep them.  We do that when we exceed other people's expectations.  We make what we believe, reality.  And to me there's nothing quite as interesting, and as satisfying as taking other people's belief in you, and making it reality, for you and for others...in a good way.