It’s weird how hard it is for a lot of people to say nice things about themselves. Is it modesty? Our culture?
I asked Wayne to write a letter of recommendation for me to send to MIT. He agreed, then told me to write the letter myself and he’d rewrite it in his own words and sign it.

I don’t think I’ve been given a task that hard in quite a while.

It took me two hours to write 14 lines. Sure I can give myself a compliment at the drop of a hat. but it’s usually something that’s either shallow or tongue in cheek. It doesn’t take me that much effort to give someone I know well a genuine compliment. I bet that in 2 hours of writing I could come up with more than 14 lines even for people i don’t think that highly of.

I mean, the first line in my myspace ’about me’ is “Hey, I’m nathan. I think you’re awesome.” Again, tongue in cheek, but in general it’s true.

I don’t think it’s a self esteem issue, at least not for me. Could it be humility or restraint? family values? an attempt at sophistication?

How about you guys, how much genuine praise can you give yourself? If it’s a lot or a little, why do you think so?