How Can One Correctly Assess Their Own Ability?
Mz: Something that has been helpful for me:  I try to separate the skills/knowledge from my ego.I went through a period where I was something of a "star" on a few small email lists and was constantly heaped with public praise.  I was uncomfortable with that but was told I had "poor self esteem" and these kind, loving folks were going to assist me in getting over it.  Of course, the more some folks sang my praises, the more others felt compelled to kick the living crap out of me and try to bring me down a notch or twelve.  Having concluded that my aversion to public praise is rooted in wisdom, not neurosis, I have since worked hard on learning to present good information that stands on its own merits while simultaneously deflecting public praise since it actually undermines my efforts to put out good info by putting too much of the focus on me and my ego.  In spite of still putting forth controversial ideas, I get beat up less these days.  With getting beat up less, I have less need to have folks telling me I'm wonderful because I don't have all those psychic wounds to salve.I suspect one reason very competent people underestimate their abilities is because they tend to attract lots of criticism.  In other words, they are a threat to the pecking order and people make huge deals out of any tiny mistake they make (basically a desperate attempt to say "you're not All That, dammit!").  The approach I have worked out helps get around that issue.  I am perfectly willing to admit that I make mistakes and because I do not let people paint me into a corner and make this all about me and my ego, I get a lot less of that type of negative feedback than I used to.  (It still happens, but it's not socially and emotionally crippling anymore.)  This helps remove negative social bias (hostility) from my attempts to self-assess.  That has had a net positive impact on my confidence and self-assessment.