I

read somewhere that we are inherently self-deficient from birth. That’s interesting. Feelings of self-deficiency will keep us from reaching our God-given potential.

Very few people who believed that they were self-deficient ever made it to the fullness of their greatness as expected by the Divine.

For us to be able to deploy all our best and come out with our greatness, it is important that we identify our self-deficiency and deal with it ruthlessly.

It’s Not Seclusion from people

Now, I am aware that we are in need of interdependence. This stems from the fact that we cannot be complete in and of ourselves. Therefore, I am not indicating in any way that the opposite of self-deficiency is to not be in need of help from others.

What I am advocating for though is that we ought to have a healthy view of ourselves, neither under looking what we can do or over-estimating ourselves.

Self-Deficiency

Self-deficiency is not healthy in any way. To be self-deficient is to look down upon yourself and consider yourself incapable, unwanted, unneeded, and unable to make a contribution. It is to put down your own fire of potential because you feel undeserving.

If you have such feelings, chances are that you will struggle a huge lot to make an impact in life. I believe that in educating people, we have to make sure that they are not being plagued by self-deficiency in the first place before we can educate them.

There is, however, a very powerful way of dealing with the feelings of self-deficiency. It simply being in motion, taking some kind of action.

Taking Action is one Answer

Action begets motion in just about any area of life. I would rather that people be in motion than in waiting. Even while you are waiting, you ought to be taking some kind of action. Otherwise, the fear that is clogged in your gut is multiplied thereby enhancing your self-deficiency.

When you have no money in your pocket, one would think that the quickest respite in dealing with the self-deficiency that has been created is to get some money. The problem comes when you do not have any source of income at that point in time. What happens then?

Any Kind of Action

Either, you will sit back and bite your fingers as you consider the terrible situation you are in, hoping and praying that it would be resolved. Or, you will take some kind of action towards rectifying the status quo. I am here to tell you that it’s not just the action you take that is directly connected to getting the money that will cure your self-deficiency, but I have reason to believe that just about any kind of action that you will take will cure that state.

Apoptosis

I will never forget what Marcia Weirder, the founder of Dream University said some time back in an interview on Visionary Business University that I attended.

She spoke of an interesting term called “Apoptosis”.

Apoptosis is a medical term that refers to the state where the brain sends signals to the rest of the body that it is not needed because there is basically no activity going on. When that state is reached, people start disintegrating.

We see it a lot when people retire. If there is no action in their lives, apoptosis hits them hard and soon enough, they die.

The same can happen to companies.

Apoptosis and Self-Deficiency

The interesting thing though is that through the process, self-deficiency is part and parcel of the apoptosis. Did you know that the cure for apoptosis is taking action? Just about any kind of action at that!

If someone comes to him and tells him that they are depressed or feeling low, one of my coaches takes their hand and starts walking very fast, at times dragging the person. Shortly after, some kind of lightness comes to them. The way to cement depression and self-deficiency in your psyche is to sit by and do nothing!

Different Types of Action

The following are the types of activities that you can take in order to cure self-deficiency

1. Inspired Action

   I talked about this in the previous article. You see, inspiration is such an interesting thing. It is very powerful but only for seconds. That’s why Zig Ziglar said:

   “Many people say that inspiration doesn’t last, well so does bathing, and that’s why we recommend it daily”.

   Here is the thing though, if you would latch on to a moment of inspiration and took action, that kind of action will inspire you out of feelings of self-deficiency in the long run. There is no telling how many revolutions have been made by taking inspired action around the world!

2. Consistent Action

   If you are feeling self-deficient and you resorted to upping your game in the spiritual arena, for example, consistency has to be key. If you just go and pray for one day, you would have broken some kind of barrier and started something new.

   However, if that action is not going to be backed up by another action of the same kind, the momentum is lost. What follows next is that the spiritual discipline becomes even harder because apathy is now at play.

   In turn, self-deficiency is even cemented further. Consistent action, therefore, is of primary importance in fighting self-deficiency. It creates momentum that helps you get to productivity and in the zone.
   Believe me, there is no self-deficiency when you are in momentum or where you are in the zone.

3. Massive Action

   I would equate massive action to instituting a medium-term to a long-term project. This means that you have planned and focused your energies onto a particular project for a foreseeable future. Massive action has to be sustained until the project is crowned and finished.

   What I know is that while you are in the process of taking massive action self-deficiency tends to be a forgotten thing. You do not have time to wallow around in self-pity.

   You can take massive action either on your own life to improve it, or you can join friends, colleagues and loved ones to launch something meaningful. Either way, you will be dealing self-deficiency a major blow.

4. Risk Action

   This means going outside of your comfort zone and doing something crazy. Something that scares you. Something that you probably have not done in a long while. It might be as fun as going for bungee jumping, or as serious as seeking an appointment with the topmost CEO in the country.

   The spirit in doing it is the spirit of adventure and nonchalance. Every once in a while when you take risk action, there is no telling what benefits will accrue from it. One of the benefits though is the defeat of self-deficiency. That is a guarantee.

All in all, when you take any form of action, you will be directly dealing with the feeling of self-deficiency. The converse is also true. When you do nothing, you will be feeding self-deficiency to unimaginable (but illusionary) status.