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Our Internal Scorecard
In this highly
competitive world, we all seek external validation for our work. We love it when
people praise us or our work. All this external validation is very good for
marketing ourselves in our professional lives, some of this validation comes at
a price, as we also pay for the ‘certification’! Apart from this external
validation we also have an internal scorecard, which all of us keep. This is
the scorecard which tells us how we have really performed – this is the
scorecard which makes us happy internally, which makes our soul happy. This is
the real scorecard – you can never fool it. If you get a high internal rating
it is good, else you need to look at ways to do things in such a way that raises
your internal score.
Ralph Waldo
Emerson had said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make
you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” This statement is so true
as we all try to achieve something or become something which goes against
everything we really believe in, all this to make others happy. We forget who
we are, what we were born for and all join the rat race to become ‘something’!
Grigori
Perelman had a question, “Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have
everyone think that you are the world’s worst lover? Or would you rather be the
world’s worst lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s greatest lover?”
Interesting question isn’t it! Most of us want both the things. Not only do we
want to be good at what we do, but we also want people to think and acknowledge
that we are good. Most of us want other people to think that we are doing well,
we like to pull that wool over people’s eyes for whatever social or other
recognition that we crave.
In this world
which thrives on social media we see all kinds of posts for which we are
seeking ‘likes’ from perfect strangers! The social media platforms have also
started paying you for the content you post based on ad revenue generated. All
this makes people write, record and post all kinds of stuff to gain recognition
– all this external recognition gives your ego an artificial boost and you
start craving for such ‘likes’ and get disturbed if they are not forthcoming!
We start depending more and more on what people think about us rather than what
we think about ourselves! Our internal or inner scorecard is intrinsic to us.
It defines who we are at the core of our values and beliefs.
When we live
with our internal scorecard for validation, we focus on being the most
authentic and genuine version of ourself that we are and doing the right things
instead of doing what others want us to do.
The real world
requires a mindset of knowing who we really are and working with our internal
scorecard. Even if you do everything right, the reaction of others is likely to
crush you – as jealousy, disrespect, annoyance comes to the fore! Without an
internal scorecard such reactions could crush you. The world is not bothered
with what you do, but you can find joy and satisfaction in your work because of
your internal scorecard – you do not have to look anywhere else for joy and
happiness but within!
1 comment:
This is so true. Still I find even myself dragged to external validation. A very nice timely guidance 🙏
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