Back yourself

I’m surprised how many people just take whatever life dishes up to them. I suspect they have creative ideas in the face of their problems, but then discount them as impossibilities.

It was the third year of my Science Degree. I’d studied hard for the Physical Chemistry exam. Now like the name implies, the subject is all about the interaction between the world of Physics and the world of Chemistry… which means it’s all about problem solving and Mathematics. The paper entailed answering 6 questions in three hours – it always had done. So that’s how everyone studied for it. But this year, the lecturer decided to be creative and completely alter his exam format. It had dozens of questions of varying length, and none of them required mathematical analysis. …I couldn’t do any of them! But I HAD studied! So I backed myself. On my first page, I wrote to the lecturer. “I cannot answer any of these questions. If you had asked such and such, I could have answered it. Just to show you that I could…” and then I proceeded to write my own question and solve it over the next four to five pages. I did that six times. In effect, I wrote my own paper.

Everyone left that exam devastated. The class had a huge fail rate. I got a Credit! What can I say? I knew that I was worth a lot more than a Fail. And I knew that I could show it. So I backed myself.

Too many people hold themselves back for fear of failing. Whenever I know that I’ve done the background work, I determine not to listen to my fears and insecurities. I back myself. It’s one of my best life mottos. It works in the workplace. It works in study. It works in relationships. It works in ministry. Back yourself.