“Prove yourself” is a phrase that spreads widely in our communities. The intention behind it is to encourage a person to put in effort and show that he is capable and distinguished. Let us explore this phrase a little to see whether it gives us strength or weakness, and whether we should benefit from it or reject it. A person shines and becomes creative when his motivation for work comes from within. Only then can he overcome the obstacles and discouragement that everyone inevitably faces in their work and in their life. How do we know if our motivation is internal or external? Internal motivation is the inner desire of a person to carry out work because he believes in it, loves it, and wants to improve through it. He wants to perform it in the best way to reach personal fulfillment. This is the internal motivation of the ordinary person. As for the believer, he adds to that the desire to seek the pleasure of his Lord and to find this work recorded in his scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgment. External motivation is the desire to perform work driven by external rewards. This desire grows with material rewards or people’s approval and decreases when these rewards or approval fade. External motivation is temporary and depends on how often the external incentive appears. It disappears when the incentive stops. What happens when you work to prove yourself? A person who adopts this idea believes that gaining praise, approval, trust, and status depends on what he does now and what he says about himself. This belief is mistaken. A person may gain some approval when he does something good at the moment, but this does not prove that he is truly worthy of trust or status. To deserve trust, a person must pass through a period of time in which he demonstrates patience in work, flexibility, positivity in difficult situations, the ability to overcome discouragement, acceptance of constructive criticism, and dedication in his work regardless of external rewards. This does not happen overnight. It requires time for these psychological skills to appear, the skills that lead to creative and excellent work and that lead to deserving trust. The person who possesses these skills does not work to gain trust but works sincerely. He is happy with the contentment of his supervisors because he feels that he fulfilled the trust. The mindset of “prove yourself”: When you work to prove yourself, you will not tolerate the criticism or guidance of your supervisors, because you will think it means you are not competent. Yet competence grows and declines; it is not a fixed standard. Refusing criticism keeps us limited and prevents us from growing and flourishing. But when you work to please Allah and you are sincere in your work, you will accept criticism with positivity and work on developing yourself. Then you move forward, fulfilling the trust and becoming deserving of confidence. When you work to prove yourself, you will hide your mistakes, justify them, and avoid admitting them. This makes you smaller in the eyes of others and in the eyes of your supervisors. But when you work sincerely for Allah, feeling the responsibility of trust, you will make sure to learn from your mistakes and correct them because Allah sees your work. When you work to prove yourself, you will be afraid when difficulties arise, because you want to show excellence and perfection. No one must discover a weakness in you. Fear prevents focus and prevents creative solutions, causing you to fail in facing difficulties and discouragement. You will then resort to excuses or blaming others, and your work will decline. When you work to prove yourself, you will feel jealous when others excel. You will think they are better than you, meaning they proved themselves and deprived you of the opportunity. This fills your thoughts with worry about them and fills your emotions with bitterness and frustration. Your insight dims, your inner self becomes clouded, and you lose the deep focus on your own work. Negative emotions extinguish clarity and concentration, causing you to fall behind while others move forward. “O human being, you are striving toward your Lord with great effort, and you will meet Him.” The mindset of “prove yourself” creates people with a fixed mindset. This mindset believes that intelligence, talent, and abilities are fixed since birth and do not change. Its standard of success is people’s praise. Its motivation is external, tied to material rewards and people’s approval. Sincerity in work, however, creates people with a growth mindset. This mindset believes that intelligence, talent, and abilities grow through effort, practice, and asking others for help. Its standard of success is learning and growth. Its motivation is internal, tied to the enjoyment of learning, personal development, and creativity. The trend of “prove yourself” produces individuals with weak sincerity, little patience, and fragile inner structure. They are always looking for excuses, blaming circumstances and others. Meanwhile, others advance far ahead while they remain limited and will continue to be limited. They will never truly prove themselves as long as they hold this mindset.