Never EVER Underestimate Others – My 2 Cents

I’ve always been underestimated.

At school, at work, at sports… But to be honest (and modest), I proved people wrong and proved that I was capable of whatever it is that they underestimated in.

Here are a few situations where I was underestimated:

@ School:

For starters, I was 5 years old when I was in first grade. With almost everyone around me at 7 years old, it was a bit of challenge to prove that age can never be considered a measure of intelligence. But I did it by coming in first or second of my classes throughout elementary school.

In high school, I was a senior at 15 years old. People who didn’t know me knew that I was “The 15-year Old Senior”. Thanks to my teachers, everyone knew and treated me like the “baby” of the class.

I got used to all the “Awww’s” and the “OMG’s”. I embraced them too.

I remember the superintendent and the principal telling me “it’s not possible for you to graduate that early”.

Guess what? I proved them wrong.

I studied and studied, and took summer school, and night school, and I did it.

On graduation day, I got to see them and I proudly asked “Remember me?”

In college? Well, same story.

“You’re too young, you won’t be able to handle the pressure” or “you won’t be able to take the full course load and still maintain your GPA”.

Guess what? I proved them wrong.

I took on the full course load and still managed to keep getting A’s. During my undergrad years, I only got one B+.

Aaaand I graduated at 17 years old. Soo…

Grad school? Same story.

On enrollment day, the staff giving out student ID’s couldn’t find mine among the MBA group. As it turned out, they saw that my age was 17, so they automatically added me to the first-year undergrad students.

When they found out that I was really supposed to be in the MBA program, they thought it was an error and that I was stupid for not knowing my own curriculum.

I showed my documentations and I proved my point.

With my classmates at least 22 years old, I was back to the “Awww’s” and the “OMG’s”.

I was the “baby” of the class, once again.

@ Work:

After I got my MBA, finding a job was quite a challenge.

They take one look at my resume, and they reject, because I was “too young” with “no experience”. No, credentials are not important; it’s the birth date that matters **sigh + facepalm**.

How the hell am I supposed to get experience if no one is giving me the chance to prove that I can do the job? Huh? How?

Anyways, after about 5 months post-graduation, I was able to land my first job in Digital Marketing.

Since 100% of the job was all online, my age wasn’t that big of a deal. I could say that I was a 40-year old woman and nobody would argue with me.

My second job though. Phew!

I was hired as a manager for a NGO, which meant that I was on the move all the time. Meetings were non-stop.

My then-boss, God bless him, knew how people will look at me. He warned me.

He told me that my subordinates will not accept me as a manager because I was much younger than any of them.

He told me that the people I will get to meet will undermine my ability to do my job and will underestimate me.

He told me to keep it together, give it my best, and prove them wrong. That’s what I did. He had faith in me and that made me work even harder.

@ Sports:

As if my age is not enough, let’s just say I’m also short. I’m 5ft (less than) 4in, that’s about 164 cm in the metric system, and 102 pounds, which is equivalent to 46 kg.

See what I mean?

I’m in my twenties and most people look at me and ask me which high school I go to.

Now, when it comes to sports, as soon as I mention that I practice martial arts and also a bit of kickboxing, people look surprised.

They’d say “You mean you fight? HOW? No es possible!”

Ok, I added the Spanish part to make a bit dramatic, but you get the drift.

The other day, I needed the hand wraps that go underneath boxing gloves to protect the wrists and knuckles from each hit. I went into a sporting goods store, and asked the sales rep where I can find them.

He took one look at little me and asked “For your brother?”

Me: “No, they’re for me.”

Sales rep: ” For YOU? You mean you box?”

No, I want them for my dancing class, jerk.

Me: “Yes.”

He looked me up and down and said: “Really?”

Wanna try me? 

Me: “Yes really, please show me where I can find the damn hand wraps. I’m in a hurry”.

Long story short, the smallest size they had was larger than my T-Rex hands.

There. I said it.

Martial arts do give me an incredible confidence boost, though.

Bottom Line

Sometimes I think it’s OK to be underestimated, that way you get to prove everyone wrong. It’s definitely better than to be overestimated in my opinion. At least, you won’t disappoint anyone, right?

Take it from me, no one should ever underestimate the other person. You never know what she’s capable of. Appearances can be quite misleading.

Most importantly, never EVER underestimate your own abilities.