We all have preconceived ideas and perceptions about other people, situations and even about ourselves.  A preconceived idea is an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence.  It is when we believe something to be true before really knowing that it is.

We mostly want the perceptions that others have of us to be positive.  We want them to think we have everything under control.

Strange that we mostly foster negative perceptions about ourselves and our own lives.  I still struggle with this a lot.  I’ve always had this idea that I have the potential to be good at certain things but that “winning” at anything or really excelling in something just isn’t meant for me.  Most of my adult life I have been searching for the one thing, attribute or talent that made me stand out, that “thing” that I’m a master at. 

I guess the reason for this is that I’ve never been the best at anything.  And for a lot of reasons (a blog for another day) I’ve felt “safer” being mediocre, especially during my teenage years.  If my peers, parents and teachers don’t expect a lot from me, I can’t really disappoint them.  Also, if I don’t put myself “out there”, I will never really let myself down, I will never fall or fail.  So, I never walked the extra mile, because I convinced myself that I was made for mediocracy. 

But boy was I wrong.  I found myself more unhappy, depressed and disappointed with every passing day.  My passions and my God-given talents were stopped dead in their tracks every time it started to simmer to the surface, mostly because of my own insecurities and the perception I somewhere along the line started to believe about myself. 

By the grace of God, somewhere in my 20’s I realised that there’s got to be more to life and started cultivating and learning and growing into the person I believe the Lord always meant for me to be.

While I’m being honest you should know that I still haven’t found “that one thing”. The truth is that I have been so bombarded with the conformities that most of us unknowingly accept, that I believed I should fit into some kind of box.  For instance, when you open a business or creator account on Instagram or Facebook you need to make a choice of what “group” you fall under (entrepreneur, singer, blogger, writer, public speaker, model and the list goes on).  I always find it extremely hard filling out these questions because I’m a bit of a “jack of all trades”, I can do a variety of things  quite well and I suppose that it’s because of this fact that I have the perception that I don’t really have what it takes to be GREAT at anything. 

“MASTER OF NONE”?

“One strategy for getting ahead is being incredibly good at a particular skill; you need to be world-class to stand out for that skill.  In my case, I layered fairly average skills together until the combination became special.”  It’s funny how you can struggle with something for so long and then on one random day read something and it feels that everything suddenly makes sense in an instance.  Scott Adams’ words gave me some much-needed perspective about my own understanding of what it really takes to be special or great at something. I realised that I have been gifted with a variety of skills, talents and life experiences that, when used in unison and towards a specific outcome becomes something special and my zone of genius.   

“BUT OFTENTIMES BETTER THAN A MASTER OF ONE.”

If you are struggling with the perceptions of others or the perception you have about your own abilities remember this:  God does not make mistakes. He has given us all an array of talents and skills and when you combine that with your life experiences and the burning desire in your heart to glorify Him, success is guaranteed. 

If you are stuck like I was in the perception or belief that you don’t have what it takes to realise your ultimate dreams, THINK again.  You can change your life by changing your thinking, by getting perspective of who and what you really are and by trusting that the Lord will take you exactly where you need to go if you give every single fibre of your being to Him.  He is the master of using your “average” and making it extraordinary. 

In the words of Alanis Morissette:  “I’m a little bit of everything all rolled into one”.  No one is YOU and that is your superpower.

I hope that you will #beablessing to yourself this week and ultimately be a blessing to those around you.