V is for Vulnerability

The microphone shook in my hands as I began to tell over 30 people in the room what my vulnerabilities were.

It was two years ago; the first time I ran a Facebook Ad.

Like most first Ads, the result was awful!

But that experience left me burnt out. I started questioning my skills and the numerous certificates I had acquired over the years.

I saw myself as a failure rather than the Ad.

Thinking back now, it was all a rushed process. I clumsily watched a YouTube Tutorial video(Whose focus was on the USA market) and duplicated his methods. Of course, the result came out terrible!

If I had seen the failure as an opportunity to learn something new, figure where I had gone wrong, and focus on doing better next time. Perhaps, I’ll be calling myself a “Facebook Expert” now.

Running from failure is something I’m accustomed to.

At several stages of my life, I have always found a reason to run from situations that didn’t work out as I expected. Or quit on new things that start challenging me beyond what I prepared for.

The fear of failure is my greatest vulnerability.

Oh, there’s the fear of public speaking too, but come to think of it, behind that fear is resistance — that small tiny voice in our heads that doesn’t want us to embarrass ourselves. It all boils than to the fear of not saying thrash that’ll make others think lesser of us. We are scared of being vulnerable.

Cognizance is an event that holds three times a week in FutureX, the company I currently work for. The weekly event aims at helping employees develop themselves in several areas, such as public speaking, a shift in mindset, and personal development.

In the past two weeks, the Director of FutureX, Timmy Brain, has been holding a Flow Series.

The goal of the series is to help us break free from every limiting myths we’ve grown up to believe and building up our minds to achieve our goals and become the best version of ourselves

On the fifth day of the series, he spoke on the topic:

“Vulnerability comes with a new mind” where he spoke about how being vulnerable is the only way to learn.

Maturity is a process, it takes time to manifest: Just like a newborn baby, walking takes time. Babies have to go through the process of crawling, awkward falling, stumbling before finally walking. It's all part of the process.

In becoming the new person we hope to be, we have to trust in the process. In the process of failing and learning, we have to trust the vulnerability that comes with a new mind.

You can’t expect a leap when you’ve not started taking the little baby steps required of you.

With a total renewal of mind, failure is bound to happen. But it shouldn’t discourage you but rather help you understand the importance of the process.

Strive to build a solid mindset, not a solid ground: It's not about your ground, but how grounded your mind.

Building a solid mindset will help you stand through every rejection that comes along with owning a new mind

Hot hand fallacy: This is the irrational belief that that the streak of success is likely to continue and has to do with something other than pure probability.

See Rejection as a gift: The moment you start seeing rejection as a gift, your growth begins. Rejections are another chance given to improve an idea.

Final Thought

Through the session, I have learned that vulnerability comes with the renewal of the mind.

When trying something new(especially without appropriate guidance), failure is bound to occur.

But failure is a chance to do something better, an opportunity to improve.

“SHAME is the flip side of vulnerability. We avoid opening ourselves to the connection art brings because we fear that we will finally be seen as the fraud that we are” — Seth Godin