I have no idea what I am doing

I'm surprised this hasn't received more upvotes (considering the other stuff that regularly gets upvoted here).

The message may be obvious to some, or over the heads of others, but the post is about a principle that I find worthwhile holding. It pays to always keep an open mind and always believe you can do better. It's extremely easy to fall victim to praise.

Most of us are good at what we do, but we can always improve our skills.

Maybe it's just me. I spent a lot of my school years being told how clever I was. As the young me grew confident of this fact, the less effort I would be inclined to put into learning (at school). I pursued my own interests out of school, and taught myself the stuff I really wanted to learn (computers, programming). Still, when I was first unleashed upon the internet I had a completely inflated view of my skills. It wasn't until I got involved with an open-source project and worked with some really great people that I realised quite how far I had to go. Aptitude is not competence without effort.

This experience has given me the reflex nowadays to draw back from praise. I get it all the time and can't help but enjoy it of course, but I still remember the negative impact it can have if I listen to it too much.

Now perhaps my co-founder will read this and stop calling me awesome at last :)