Years ago, I read Scott Adams's book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big for the first time. I thought he made himself seem like a real douche in it. What bugged me the most was the smug story about his gym teacher. And the fact that he thought that everyone should play golf.
Don't get me wrong, I still disagree with him about golf. But the gym teacher story, the one where he was singled out as the only kid in his class smart enough to get into college, doesn't sound as conceited anymore. After all, it was an essential part of his journey of getting into college. Or rather: an essential part in him deciding to get into college.
I now think that I only disliked the story on the first read because making himself seem special triggered something in my Jungian shadow. My shadow thinks that I'm the only one who's special, and if anyone else tries to seem special, it's taken from my own specialty. Which is silly, of course. The way Scott was and is special is completely unrelated to the way I am. His specialty isn't out of my pocket. In fact, his story inspires me to develop my own specialty.
Another thing that caught my eye on the second read was this quote:
"I looked great on paper. Little did they realize that looking good on paper was my best skill."
I feel exactly the same way. I have a master's degree from a STEM field, I have tons of work experience, I speak several languages, I have organisational and presentation skills, and I'm a serial entrepreneur. But I'm definitely an impostor. I can relate to Scott's stories about being bad at every job he had.
The silver lining is that you can fail at almost everything... and still win big.
RK
