The secret to maximizing your odds of success is knowing where to place yourself.
– Deepak Paul
If you often find yourself thinking you’re a zero, considering the level of talent that’s out there, you’re not alone my friend. And what if I tell you being a zero isn’t as bad you think, would it make you feel better?
The beauty of “zero”, this rather ordinary number lies in its placement. Let me explain. What’s the difference between 001 and 100? It’s a no-brainer, 100 has a greater value than 001. The two zeroes appended turns 1 into 100 giving it the greater value. In other words, the two zeroes hold no significance when placed before 1. Therefore, the thing about zero lies in where we place it. We position it in the wrong place, it appears to have no value.
Like zero, we ought to know where to place ourselves. We might suck at a million things, in my case a zillion, but we all got certain skillsets that will make us invincible in some. The secret to maximizing our odds of success is to choose the right playing field which favours our strengths and avoids our weaknesses. Placement is the key here.
How to know where to place yourself?
- Soul-search – Take time to soul-search by journaling your thoughts and generally exploring and experimenting
- Understand your offering – Understand who you’re as a person and what you bring to the table
- Zoom out – Look at the bigger picture by analyzing what your long-term goals really are and plan the steps you’ll be taking to get there
And eventually, you’ll figure out where you’d be a proper fit.
A tool to get you started on the journey would be SWOT analysis which helps identify your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
There you are, the next time you catch yourself thinking you’re a zero, the good news is, if placed properly, there’s beauty in being a zero.
You can also watch the talk here below.