Do you ever notice how often you discount yourself? You will say, “I’m just lucky to be here.” “I’m not really educated on this.” “This is probably beyond my pay grade.” “I don’t know much about this.” “This may be a stupid question.” When you discount yourself upfront, you are teaching people how to treat you. If you are discounting yourself, you are encouraging them to discount you too. If you say, “This may be a stupid question…” And then you ask the question, I may say, “You know, you are really smart, that is a stupid question.” The problem is, is that you are leading me to discount you. So instead of discounts, just ask the question or make the remark and you’ll be taken more seriously.