THE PERSON EVERYBODY BELIEVES IN, EXCEPT YOU!

Sometimes, the biggest obstacle standing between you and your potential is your inability to see what everybody else already sees.

Have you ever met someone who cannot accept a compliment without immediately looking for an excuse to discredit it?

You tell them they look sharp, like a whole billionaire, and they will practically jump back three paces, snap their fingers over their head, and start casting out demons: "Ah! Billionaire? Please o, do not mock me! Me that I’m just looking for transport money? It’s just Okrika clothes, please! Don't let my destiny helpers hear you and run away!"

You tell them they are exceptionally intelligent, and they treat it like an "Express Delivery" package from a yahoo-boy, immediately trying to return it to sender: "Ah, please don't say that o! I just know small things. It was just luck."

At this point, you begin to wonder whether you are complimenting a human being or trying to convince a stubborn goat to enter a vehicle.

Interestingly, these people are not necessarily pretending to be humble. This isn't "humble bragging" where someone plays coy just to fetch more praise. No, this is genuine, deep-seated disbelief. Many genuinely don't see themselves the way others see them. To them, every success is a fluke, and every talent is "just something anybody can do."

Let's talk about Amaka.

Back in university, Amaka was the person her course mates ran to whenever they encountered difficult assignments. She could break down complicated topics so easily that you wondered why the lecturer had spent two hours confusing everybody. During group projects, she naturally took charge, organised the work, and spotted mistakes others overlooked. Even her friends sought her advice on personal issues.

However, whenever someone praised her intelligence, she would laugh nervously and say, "Me? I'm just managing."

After graduation, nothing changed.

Her colleagues regularly sought her opinion before important presentations. One Tuesday morning, the office server crashed, throwing the entire tech department into a sweating panic since 8:00 AM. Amaka quietly sat down, traced the glitch, and single-handedly resolved the crisis before noon.

When her supervisor gasped and said, "Amaka, you are a genius! That was amazing," she instantly shrunk back, waving her hand as if chasing away houseflies. "Ah, please don't say that o! Even a child could have solved it, I just got lucky."

Whenever a project became overly complicated, the Managing Director would look past the loud mouths in the boardroom, point straight at her, and say, "Let's ask Amaka. She will know what to do." They knew she had the capacity.

But Amaka had a different opinion of herself.

She avoided applying for senior positions because she believed there were "real gurus" around who were far more qualified. She turned down leadership opportunities because she wasn't sure she was good enough. Alone with her thoughts, she felt like an impostor. Looking in the mirror, she would think, "If they really knew me, they'd know I'm not that good."

Whenever someone suggested a professional certification or an international opportunity, she could produce ten rapid-fire reasons why she wasn't ready.

One day, a colleague who had watched her decline yet another high-profile project pulled her aside:

"Amaka, why do you always talk yourself out of opportunities? Why are you always 'God-forbidding' your own progress?"

She replied, "I don't think I'm that good. There are people much better than me."

Her colleague smiled and said:"

Of course, there are people better than you. But that doesn't mean you aren't good enough to take your next step. If you keep telling the world you are nothing, eventually, they will believe you."

That statement got me thinking.

Why do some people find it so difficult to believe in themselves, even when those around them repeatedly demonstrate that they are capable?

Some have become so accustomed to their abilities that they no longer recognise them as anything special - they think because it is easy for them, it must be easy for everyone. Others constantly compare their behind-the-scenes struggles with everyone else's highlight reels, forgetting that everyone started somewhere. Some have made perfection their standard. If they cannot do something exceptionally well, they conclude they aren't good enough.

Unfortunately, this mindset comes at a massive cost.

The tragic truth is that the world will eventually take you at your own valuation. If you keep insisting you are small-fry, people will eventually leave you right there in your corner.

You decline opportunities before anybody has a chance to reject you. You remain in positions you have outgrown because you are afraid of trying something bigger. You sit silently in meetings, swallowing the exact solutions everyone is dying to find.

And the most painful part? You watch less-qualified people with half your talent—but double your confidence - boldly step forward to take the seats, the salaries, and the promotions you deserved.

Meanwhile, your siblings trust your judgement, your friends seek your advice, your colleagues depend on your expertise, and your classmates know you can handle difficult assignments.

Yet you are somewhere telling yourself that you are just an ordinary person who doesn't have much to offer.

Perhaps it is time to reconsider that opinion.

If you are intelligent, own it.

If you are beautiful, handsome, creative, resourceful, resilient or exceptionally good at what you do, stop acting as though acknowledging it will make you a terrible person.

Nobody is asking you to become arrogant or the person who reminds everybody every five minutes that they are intelligent.

Please, we have suffered enough!

Humility is not pretending you have no qualities. It is recognising your qualities without looking down on others. It is saying: "I have put in the work. God has given me a good head on my shoulders. I may not know everything, but I am capable, and I am worthy of this space."

Neither should you assume that every compliment is automatically true. Accept constructive criticism, acknowledge your weaknesses and keep improving. But learn to recognise your strengths too.

And perhaps the most important thing to remember is this:

Other people can recognise your potential, encourage you, recommend you for opportunities and even open doors for you. But they cannot walk through those doors on your behalf.

If you are running a race and the entire stadium is shouting, "You can do it!" but inside your mind you are chanting, "I will fail," your legs will eventually listen to your mind, not the crowd. No matter how much the world believes in you, their belief cannot carry you across the finish line if you refuse to believe in yourself.

At some point, you must believe that you are capable of doing more.

So, the next time someone compliments you, resist the temptation to immediately dismiss it. A simple "Thank you, I appreciate that" will do.

You don't have to argue your way out of every compliment.

And when an opportunity comes knocking, don't automatically assume it is meant for someone better than you.

Perhaps it is meant for you.

Stop being the only person who doesn't see the good in you.

You may not be everything you want to become yet, but that doesn't mean you aren't already someone worth believing in.

Bright Eugene.