Hamstrung by the notion that you’re not enough? This is the episode for you. I have two reasons why you’re wrong in this short episode.
If you’re tired of feeling like you can’t get out of your own way and want to FINALLY make some progress toward your creative dreams, let’s talk!
Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!
Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!
Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.
Get in Touch
I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.
Subscribe!
You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!
Transcript: Are You Good Enough?
Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.
Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Are you good enough? Are you sure? Really? Here’s the answer. Yes. And I’m about to tell you why. Hi, I’m Nancy Norbeck with this week’s creative pep talk.
Nancy Norbeck [00:00:29]:
And I honestly cannot believe that we have gotten to pep talk number 110 without talking about you being good enough, Because being good enough or more to the point, the feeling that we’re not good enough is one of the most massive creative blocks that people face and not just creative—in any part of life. The easiest way to shut ourselves down is with those four words. I’m not good enough. Done. But here’s the thing. You are good enough and here’s why. Number one. What are you trying to be good enough at? You notice this question of, am I good enough? It is not a complete question because we are not specifying at what.
Nancy Norbeck [00:01:22]:
I think that’s a problem. Don’t you? There’s hardly anything else that we would, you know, forget the most important context with in our lives. But when it comes to ourselves and the opportunity to doubt ourselves, we stop short way too early. And we do not say, I am not good enough at this specific thing. And as a result, we tend to take that as a sign that we are just playing not good enough, full stop, in any or every capacity. And that’s just not true. You might not be a great golfer, but you might be a fabulous baseball player, a fabulous parent, a great watercolorist, a fantastic cook. And even if you are not fantastic at all of those things, you are undoubtedly good enough at at least some of them.
Nancy Norbeck [00:02:14]:
But because human beings have a negativity bias built straight into our brains, we don’t think about those things. We don’t give ourselves enough credit for that, which is why I have another episode about giving yourself credit. If you haven’t listened to it, check it out. And so we just wipe the slate of all of those things that we’re actually good at, where we deserve credit, where we have value and worth, which by the way is inherent, even if you truly aren’t good at anything. And we just decide in a blanket moment that we are just not good enough. And it doesn’t matter at what because we are not being specific. So my first question for you is, what are you good at? Where are you absolutely for sure good enough? Take a minute and write that stuff down and hang it somewhere where you will see it. Because we all need antidotes to the negativity bias.
Nancy Norbeck [00:03:14]:
We all do. Without them, it is super easy to forget the places where actually, you know what? I am really good at that, and I am, you know, I’m just fine. I don’t need to doubt myself. Maybe I need to doubt myself at playing Jenga, but I don’t need to doubt myself at being able to cook a great meal. I don’t need to doubt my ability to be a great parent, to hang out with my kids, to make people laugh. Whatever those things are, you deserve credit for those all the time, every single day. So please give it to yourself. Question number two.
Nancy Norbeck [00:03:53]:
I am not good enough compared to whom or to what? Again, this is where this question is a problem. We cut it off too soon, and we miss the nuance. I realize that here in 2025 not everyone is good at nuance, especially on the internet, but that doesn’t mean that nuance isn’t important. It is important to know who exactly we are comparing ourselves with. And I have done a whole pile of videos on TikTok and YouTube recently all about the dangers of comparison and the occasional good side, and I invite you to check those out. I have just created a playlist for them on YouTube, so they are super easy to find. And if I can find a link for them, I’ll put it in this video. But, you know, I’m not good enough compared to, what, Michelangelo? Not many people are Michelangelo.
Nancy Norbeck [00:04:49]:
But maybe sculpting is not your thing. Maybe something else is where you really shine, and the fault is not in you, but in the question. Where we ask it, how we ask it, and the context in which we ask it. So I promise you, you are plenty good enough at something, probably a whole lot of things that you’re not giving yourself credit for. And I just want to remind you that even Michelangelo did not start out as Michelangelo. Michelangelo had to do a lot of really, really, really bad work before he became the Michelangelo that we think of. And so does every other fabulous expert artist, whatever the context is that you can think of that you are probably comparing yourself to. So consider those two questions.
Nancy Norbeck [00:05:43]:
And for the love of all that’s holy, I beg you, make that list. You will feel so much better, and it will put a spring in your step that makes everything else easier, happier, and more possible for you because we don’t have to be good enough at absolutely everything. That is not human, and it’s never gonna happen. But we can give ourselves credit for and appreciate the things where, you know what? I’m really darn good at that. Give that a try. Let me know what happens. See you next time. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at The Spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage.
Nancy Norbeck [00:06:30]:
It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.
