Quick Confidence

8Rise above Fails and Setbacks

Sometimes I think it's a miracle I got an MBA.

Just one week after I started my program, I had written out my “I quit” email to the business school director. I told a classmate and friend I was quitting too. My justification? “I'm just not a great fit here.”

By “here” I meant surrounded by very smart, self-assured businesspeople from all different industries. I was certain they read corporate financial statements and The Wall Street Journal—for fun. Me, on the other hand? I practically had an allergy to math and extremely limited financial experience.

I was also the only person in the program coming from a social work background. That gave me a sense that not only was I out of my depth, but I might not be taken seriously either.

“Cut your losses,” I told myself. “You don't really fit. Just quit and be done with it.”

Well, what I can see clearly now is that “fit” was not the problem.

Intimidation was.

In that moment, my fear of embarrassment and failure was massive, so much so that it eclipsed my dream of getting my degree. I felt straight up insecure! On a loop, I kept thinking, “You can't do this. You're going to struggle and humiliate yourself for two years.”

As I look back now, I can see I was harping on everyone else's potential—and completely underestimating my own.

At the end of that first week, weary from anxiety, I said to myself, “Selena, just give it one more week.” After all, I had dreamed of going to business school for ages. Being ...