Last week I decided to enhance my happiness coaching by taking another happiness class. While taking the class I learned of the work of Amy Cuddy.

Dr. Cuddy was a gifted student in her teens, but then was in a bad car crash. She woke up in the hospital to learn she had brain damage and that her IQ had dropped two standard deviations. She was told she would never finish college.

Cuddy persisted and finished college, although it took twice the normal time. Much to her surprise she got accepted into a Princeton Business School graduate program. When she got to grad school and found out she had to give a speech to 20 people, she experienced impostor syndrome, feeling she didn’t belong there. Long story shortened: She went to her major professor and confessed she wanted out. The professor told her, basically, “You deserve to be here and you’re going to give this speech — and all the speech you can. You are........

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