You CAN teach an old dog new tricks....can't you??

I have recently come to notice that it is weird--when you've made some big changes or are doing something completely different than you've done before--to think of yourself differently. And hard to take it in and internalize it.

For example, I do not think of myself as someone who easily figures things out.....how to change a bicycle tire, or assemble a new composter, or how to do freakin' mail merge (am I the only one who finds this ridiculously complicated each and EVERY time I have to do it??), design an organizational or team intervention (my background), placate a bizarre computer gremlin...whatever. I believe in my bones I am not a good 'figurer outer' of things.

Then, the other day, I was driving down the freeway trying to think which bank I should open an account at for my business. I considered using someone from my Rotary club but they seem to all be male (not that being male is a bad thing :). So I thought of a woman I know from a community group I was active in. I thought, "Oh yes, Anna works with women entrepreneurs, she would be a good choice." With that, my eyes opened wide and my mouth made an 'O' and I almost ran off the freeway. Holy Cow! The realization hit me, I'M a woman entrepreneur! Geez!

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about. To think of myself as a good figurer outer or a woman entrepreneur goes so against the grain of my self identity as I have known it for decades now, that I find myself still struggling with it even though the evidence clearly indicates that I AM both of those things. Weird, very weird.

In my last job, I was the person people turned to when they had weird computer stuff going on. Or, had to do STINKIN' mail merge...can you tell mail merge gets under my skin?? Then, I have figured out a LOT of things around this business. Certainly not without a few missteps, but I'm doing it. Hmmmm, that would seem to contradict my deep beliefs that I can't figure out squat.

So, I think in the case of Figuring Out Stuff, the issue is that I assume someone who is good at it that does it effortlessly, that somehow they just know how to do it. Also, that they love doing it. I think that may be incorrect :) I'm coming to think it just means they will slow down, give it their attention, maybe make a few booboo's, but ultimately stick with it 'til it works. They may very well NOT like it! That's basically what I've been doing....that's what I did with my new digital recorder last night, aggravating as it was.

Then, I mean, I've invested some of my money and a lot of my time with this website. I've got other people doing certain parts of it, it's looking very good so far. I've learned a few lessons, thankfully not expensive ones....yet :) I've registered with the county and state as a business, I've opened a checking account. I"ve got a number of people running around doing different parts of it. I'm getting content together. I have business cards for heavens' sake! If that's not being an entrepreneur, I don't know what is.

Yet, I can tell that my bones don't believe it yet. I think they are more convinced I'm a decent Figurer Outer just because the evidence is pretty overwhelming at this point. The entrepreneur part is still a little sticky since there is the teensy matter of actually making money. Hasn't happened yet. But, the old bones are at least considering that I MIGHT be an entrepreneur. One step at a time.

I wonder how many of us women let these kinds of assumptions about ourselves get in our way of doing something we want to do? We believe something is true about ourself and we just accept it without question.

Hmmm, what evidence are you ignoring that contradicts what you believe about yourself?