The secret to never feeling inferior
Complete security in the self leads to greater confidence
We’ve all been in situations where we’ve felt inferior to another person. It’s actually a common occurrence. In fact, large amounts of people can spend their entire professional or personal lives feeling inferior to those around them; a life of insecurity.
A life of feeling like they aren’t quite good enough.
You may not instantly recognise it on faces but thousands of people will lead lives of feeling completely inferior.
But actually the secret to removing inferiority doesn’t lie in improving position or rank but merely in a firmer self-assurance.
Inferiority can rise amongst friends and family, siblings and strangers, neighbours and colleagues but actually the root of inferiority simply falls within the self.
To understand the cause of inferiority we must first appreciate the parameters of western society, because only once these are acknowledged can we begin to understand how inferiority grows and in turn how it could be stifled.
In his paper entitled Inferiority Feelings: In the Individual and the Group, the author Oliver Brachfield defines inferiority as:
“…not merely a question of remorse, strictly speaking, but of contempt and dissatisfaction felt by the subject for his own actions and moral faculties.”
The key term from Brachfield's definition is moral faculties because it’s actually here we begin to appreciate that certain others can make us feel uncertain about the very foundations of our being, even our moral compass and if we’re in situations where this happens a lot, we can lead a lifetime of inferiority.
Why should we eradicate inferiority?
Many of the societal shifts that are occurring this century like the strive for gender and racial equality are rooted deeply in prominent inferiority.
Therefore, to make strides toward a more equal world, we should strive to eradicate inferiority; it really has no place.
The root of gender and racial in-balance is unfortunately engrained and entrenched in the global mindset, a mindset that still believes certain sects of our society are inferior due to their gender or skin colour.
But it’s a mindset that can be shifted and it all starts with the individual.
How do we remove inferiority from our lives?
As mentioned above, the key to removing inferiority from the global mindset is to first remove it from our own personal view of the world.
This comes down to your interactions with friends, family, colleagues neighbours etc and we should all learn to take pride but more crucially, appreciate the value in our individual perspective.
Nobody else can offer your unique perspective.
And therefore every person you’re talking to, no matter their status or position can extract value from being near you.
That’s quite a powerful thought.
No matter who you’re talking to, you can always offer value. In that unique moment in time you are offering your perspective, your thoughts and nobody else on earth can offer that. That’s important.
Recognising your individuality and the value that carries eradicates the root of inferiority, it blows away the constructs of status and rank and instantly brings you on a level playing field to the person across the table or at the other end of the handshake.
Peace.
RH
