How to Deal with People Who Underestimate You

Right now, I am in a situation, at work, which has prompted me to write about the issue of underestimation. In my case I am being misjudged and I am filling stressed out, angry, on the defensive, and sometimes questioning if the person is really right about it.

I am sure you have been in similar situations. At one time or another in life, people are going to judge you based on age, looks, weight, intelligence, weaknesses, financial status, etc. Misjudging and underestimation can occur at work, with friends, and even within our family environment.

How do you deal with people who underestimate you?

In cases of underestimation there are two possibilities as I see it. You can just ignore the person who underestimates you, knowing that he or she has made a mistake, or you can prove yourself (not to him/her) that he or she is wrong. However, whatever course of action you choose, you should be perfectly comfortable with yourself. You must have the conviction, the true belief, that he or she is wrong and that you are much more valuable that what he or she thinks.

If you choose to prove yourself that he or she is wrong do not confront him or her. Do not try to make your case to him/her that he or she is misjudging and underestimating. Do not try to defend yourself. Such action will likely to have a contrary effect of what you want to achieve. Such action will probably reaffirm (in his or her mind) the underestimator belief that he (or she) has about you.

You should try to prove yourself (and not to him) that he has misjudged you through actions. Do not let your toxic feelings about the situation interfere with what you think about yourself. Think that it is a temporary situation and prove to yourself (through action) that he has underestimated you.

Even people with high levels of self-esteem can feel frustrated, angry and stressed, when they're underestimated. The idea here is to know that you are great, that he or she has made a mistake based on ignorance of not knowing you or perhaps he (or) she feels threatened by your abilities and has chosen to underestimate you.

Back to my situation, despite my feelings about it, I have chosen to just ignore his underestimation and to be prepared to prove myself (and not to him) as soon as the opportunity presents that he has wrongly underestimated me. Perhaps in doing so he will see his mistake and amend it.

So what do you think, I will love you to comment on this issue and how did you handle underestimation situations