You're not a genius? Says who?
Who says you're not a genius? Who are any of us to say? And why would anyone bother telling someone that?
In my last blog post, I talked about how it was unnecessary and counterproductive to justify your projects to your detractors. It only wastes time that could be spent doing something positive, and it's not going to change anyone's mind. One of the commenters took issue with my premise, basing his disagreement on the glib comment "You ain't Steve Jobs."
Of course I'm not, but so what? How much of a genius do I have to be before I no longer have to justify myself to others? (Don't answer that; it only encourages them.)
The unspoken corollary to comments like "You ain't Steve Jobs" seems to be "Therefore, you must listen to how others want you to be." Fortunately, even in the absence of a Jobs-level genius, we're all able to stand on our own, to live and work as we see fit, without having to take mandatory guidance from others.
I wonder at the thought process that it takes to tell someone "You're not as _____ as you think you are." Near as I can figure, comments like these have one or more of these subtexts:
- "You need to be more like me."
- "I'm trying to save you wasting time or risking failure."
- "I have taken it upon myself to take you down a peg and put you in your place." (This one often appears with the phrase "I'm just saying...")
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