What looks like an inferiority complex is often a covert superiority complex: you highlight how bad you are to feel superior at being the worst. This keeps you stuck in a negative identity. The same reframing skill that makes failure feel like a win can be turned toward actual growth.
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One of the weirdest places I tend to see people get stuck in this game of life is when they're playing the game of the inferiority complex. Now, the catch is they think that's what they have, but it turns out they actually have something different. Now, what I mean by this is quite often people feel like they can't talk about their good parts, or they can't be boastful or share their wins and so on, because then they'll be boasting or bragging or big-headed and things like that, or they're arrogant. They always blow smoke up their own ass and so on. So what they will tend to do, because that is of course bad, you know, you shouldn't talk so highly of yourself because that's arrogant and all the rest of it, what they will do is then talk badly about themselves. But not just, oh, I'm not so good, and talk bad. Whenever somebody else has something bad to say about themselves, what will then happen is you'll bounce back with something even worse. So, for example, in the gym, what I often see with people is someone will perform a set, for example, in an exercise and not perform as well as they want. Then all of a sudden someone else will chirp in and show how they performed even worse, but almost celebrate it. So in a sense, they're using what would appear to be an inferiority complex to kind of say, oh well, you thought you were bad, I'm even fucking worse. But what they're actually doing is showing a form of a superiority complex. Now, that sounds counterintuitive because they're using negativity, but what they're actually doing is saying, I'm even better at being as bad as you, or sorry, I'm even better at being bad than you are. No matter how bad you are, I'm even worse. So therefore I am superior, superior in my lack. Now, the catch is with this is we then unfortunately on a subconscious level will use this to justify staying stuck where we are. Rather than going, oh shit, I've relegated myself to the bottom of the room or the bottom of the environment by claiming to be the worst one here, or the one that's suffering with the most lack or got the worst results. Rather than go, oh shit, this isn't where I want to be, I don't want to be at the bottom. Instead, we hold on to that and then own that as our new position. So no matter what anybody else does, we see it as being better than what we're doing. But in order to make ourselves feel a little better, What we do is unfortunately celebrate it so that we can justify being there. Now, the catch is what I see with a lot of these people at the same time is they're not actually the worst in the room, and at times they will actually perform way better than even many of these others that they perceive themselves to be worse than. But they will only ever hold on to or recognize or openly talk about the negative aspects. They won't talk about when they're winning and where they're the one that gets the most reps or lifts the most weight. They will only highlight when they're the worst. And again, it's because it gives us an opportunity to reinforce how bad we are. But being so bad was what enabled us to see where we were winning. And when I say winning, of course I mean winning, because really we all have some form, some level of superiority complex in the respect that we want to be good at stuff. We want to be better than we perceive ourselves to be, but sometimes we do it in screwed up and roundabout ways that actually come at things from, from a negative perspective. Now, the advantage with this type of mindset or this ability to reframe a reality is, of course, that's what we need to do as we move forward. So we've kind of gone, oh well, I'm the worst in the room, but let me find a way to make that a good thing. I'm the best at being the worst. We can do that with other aspects of our life because many of the things that we're going to need to do as we move into trying to grow our life, whether in our body, being, balance, or business, we're going to have to reframe mindsets and ways of thinking and stories and narratives and so on. Because quite often the ones that we currently have are not serving us. That's why we don't have the results that we want. So if we can actually take that same skill set that we've already been using and that ability to reframe reality and see things from a different perspective, If we can now apply that in a more positive light and instead use it to help us grow and move forward, then we're more likely to actually move forward, reach our goals, and not on an unconscious level choose to stay stuck where we are, where we already feel superior. So my question for you guys, of course, is where in your life are you doing this? Where do you relegate yourself to the bottom of the pile, but kind of as a way to show how you're actually better than others at being bad? People do this with food as well. So people will often say, oh my God, I binged out so hard at the weekend. And then all of a sudden someone else chirps in, oh, you think that was bad? Well, this is what I did, and look how fat I am, kind of thing. And then they will find a way to put down the other person's negative thing, what they've already sort of mentioned or spoken about, and they will use that as a platform to elevate themselves, but through negativity. So we just need to be careful of that, as I say, so that we can move forward in a more positive light and not find ways that we trick ourselves into staying stuck where we are. So that's my video for you today, guys. If you have any questions, as always, drop them in the comments below. If you want me to dig in this deeper, or if you have maybe some thoughts or insights on it yourself that you want to share in the comments below, feel free to do so. And if not, I will look forward to seeing you guys in my next video. Take it easy, people.
