Some Protect the Ego by Working on Their Excuses Early
Nice to know that researchers are seeing what I’m seeing. Sad that, in some of the cases I’ve seen, young people set themselves up for a lifetime of this “I’m full of potential. Just don’t make me show it” self-delusion.
As one who grew up in the music world, where performance was pretty much all that mattered (“we don’t care if you’re gifted; you’ve got three-and-a-half minutes to show us”), I’m glad I had some experiences that kept this from budding.
Erin
Alan Schmierer
This was a really interesting article — I know that when I was studying for the bar exam, I did something really similar. I told myself over and over again, “I don’t really NEED to pass, I might not even want to practice law! It doesn’t really matter if I fail” — so that way, if I didn’t pass, I wouldn’t be crushed. Similar to the last paragraph: “It’s like the line from the old Brando movie ‘On the Waterfront’: ‘I coulda been a contender,’ ” Dr. Hirt said. “In the long term, that may be easier to live with for some people than to know that they did their very best and failed.”
However, I didn’t go as far as to actually *not study* and sabotage myself. But at any rate, I did think the article was interesting and I can see how this is a common mentality! Thanks for posting!
–heidi