Kristi James on Drawing Your Way Through Conflict and Change

And so I'm, I'm curious what your thoughts are around why is it so hard to see our own strengths sometimes?

It's like a psychotherapy session at this point.

Um, I think-

[laughs]

...

it is, I think it's hard because we're not really a culture that i- encourages us to, "I'm the best at this," right? And, you know, are you the best? Am I the best at that? I'm not.

Maybe I'm not the best at that.

But, um, I need to be able to appreciate m- the things that I like doing and the things that I do well.

And I also think that y- in your 20s and 30s, you're doing all the things that everyone said you should do.

Hmm.

You should do.

You should climb the ladder.

You should be getting promoted.

Why haven't you been promoted? You should have a bigger team.

You should, you should, you should, you should.

Um, and you're not really spending a lot of time to s- think about what I want to be doing and what are the areas that I'm good at.

Do I really need to climb the ladder? Or do I really like doing this, this thing, right? Um, do I...

I mean, the more I climbed the ladder, the more I was like, "Oh, I don't like it here." [laughs] It's so much administrative work.

[laughs]

Like, I wanna do creative stuff.

[laughs]

Yeah, I wanna build and make things.

Yeah.

I wanna, I wanna draw my pictures of a process.

So I think part of it is we're so focused on the shoulds that we're not really focused on what I'm bringing.

And so I'm, I'm curious what your thoughts are around why is it so hard to see our own strengths sometimes?

It's like a psychotherapy session at this point.

Um, I think-

[laughs]

...

it is, I think it's hard because we're not really a culture that i- encourages us to, "I'm the best at this," right? And, you know, are you the best? Am I the best at that? I'm not.

Maybe I'm not the best at that.

But, um, I need to be able to appreciate m- the things that I like doing and the things that I do well.

And I also think that y- in your 20s and 30s, you're doing all the things that everyone said you should do.

Hmm.

You should do.

You should climb the ladder.

You should be getting promoted.

Why haven't you been promoted? You should have a bigger team.

You should, you should, you should, you should.

Um, and you're not really spending a lot of time to s- think about what I want to be doing and what are the areas that I'm good at.

Do I really need to climb the ladder? Or do I really like doing this, this thing, right? Um, do I...

I mean, the more I climbed the ladder, the more I was like, "Oh, I don't like it here." [laughs] It's so much administrative work.

[laughs]

Like, I wanna do creative stuff.

[laughs]

Yeah, I wanna build and make things.

Yeah.

I wanna, I wanna draw my pictures of a process.

So I think part of it is we're so focused on the shoulds that we're not really focused on what I'm bringing.