I had recently chatted with a Recruitment Director for one of the nation’s largest Information Technology firms. Four months each year she visits college campuses to recruit graduating seniors for her company’s junior executive training program. The tenor of her remarks indicated she was discouraged about the attitudes of many people she talked with.

“Most days I interview between 8 and 12 college seniors, all in the upper third of their class, all at least mildly interested in coming with us. One of the main things we want to determine in the screening interview is the individual’s motivation.

We want to find out if he or she is the kind of person who can, in a few years, direct major projects, manage a branch office, or in some other way make a really substantial contribution to the company. “I must say I’m not too pleased with the personal objectives of most of those I talk with. You’d be surprised,” she went on, “how many 22-year-olds are more interested in our retirement plan than in anything else we have to offer. A second favorite question is ‘Will I move around a lot?’ Most of them seem to define the word success as synonymous with security. Can we risk turning our company over to people like that? “The thing I can’t understand is why should young people these days be so ultra-conservative, so narrow in their view of the future? Every day there are more signs of expanding opportunity. This country is making record progress in scientific and technological development. Our population is gaining rapidly. If there ever was a time to be bullish about America, it’s now.” The tendency for so many people to think small means there is much less competition than you think for a very rewarding career.

Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measure by the size of their thinking. How big do we think determines the size of our accomplishments.

Now, let’s see how we can enlarge our thinking.

Ever ask yourself, “What is my greatest weakness?” Probably the greatest human weakness is self-deprecation that is selling oneself short. Self-deprecation shows through in countless ways.

John sees a job advertisement in the paper; it’s exactly what he would like. But he does nothing about it because he thinks “I’m not good enough for that job, so why bother.” Or Jim wants a date with Joan, but he doesn’t call her because he thinks he wouldn’t rate with her. Tom feels Mr. Richards would be a very good prospect for his product, but Tom doesn’t call. He feels Mr. Richards is too big to see him. Pete is filling out a job application form. One question asks, “What beginning salary do you expect?” Pete puts down a modest figure because he feels he really isn’t worth the bigger sum that he would like to earn.

Philosophers for thousands of years have issued good advice: Know Thyself. But most people, it seems, interpret this suggestion to mean Know Only Thy Negative Self. Most self-evaluation consists of making long mental lists of one’s faults, shortcomings, inadequacies. Its well to know our inabilities, for this shows us areas in which we can improve. But if we only know our negative characteristics we’re in a mess. So, look at any challenge as an opportunity to grow and move forward.

What have you experienced yesterday that is helping you today? How is it helping others?