When people expect little from you, don’t take it as permission. Take it as a starting line.

Low expectations are strangely comfortable, because nothing you do can disappoint anyone and effort starts to look optional. That comfort is the real cost. Being underestimated is unpleasant, but agreeing with the estimate is what makes it stick. What other people assume about you is a starting position, and it says more about their information than about your capacity.

Take one area where you have been quietly living down to what is expected and do it properly for a month. Not to prove a point to anyone. Mostly to find out what is actually there.