"Humility is the quality that will enable you and others to enjoy your success." Charlie Tremendous Jones. I know this person that loves to boast. I'm sure you know someone like her too. She's always bragging about how much money she has or the car that she drives. She'll tell you how talented she is and no one is as good as her at this or that. Think for a moment about your last encounter with someone like that.
OK, now imagine that you are standing on a teeter totter. You are balancing in the middle. Every time that person loads up one side of the teeter totter with self praise, you automatically step to other side so you don't fall off. When she loads that side with yes' about herself, you load the other side with no's so you don't fall off. That's the natural human reaction to someone who is self praising.
"Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful." John Wooden. To be humble is not a weakness. It is strength to be gracious at all time. To be humble means that you are comfortable enough with your strengths and your weaknesses to let other people speak on your behalf. The wonderful thing about humility is that it allows people to see us as who we are, not who we try to be. It is an essential part of being authentic. Make sure that your humility is sincere though. A phony humble person that fishes for compliments looks just as bad as a braggart. So sincerity is key.
Too much self pride is unbecoming. Let your customers say how great you are. Testimonials from sincere, satisfied customers will go miles farther than self praise. When someone else testifies to my helpfulness... well then, maybe it's worth paying attention to. Testimonials are free and they are gold. The secret is to ask for them. When someone says, 'Wow, that was fantastic. That really helped me." That's your cue to say thanks and ask them if they would write you a quick email to that effect, or Ask: "Do you mind if I share that statement on my website"? Put those one sentence quotes on your Linkdin profile, or your website and let those testimonials help you gain credibility.
Ask three people for whom you know you have been helpful, or who can speak to your character to write you one sentence. Ask them what you bring to the table, or what they value most about what you do, or how you are most helpful to them. Then, make sure to post those quotes in prominent places.
Let your satisfied customers toot your horn. Eat a piece of humble pie and and watch how it endears people to you. (I bet you wondered why there was a picture of a pie on this post. LOL)
You are so right. I agree to what you wrote. Humbleness is the key to knowing other people as well as oneself.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your great advice :)
Take care.
Raj
Thanks Raj!
ReplyDeletePatty,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your article on so many levels. I work with someone who has a lot going for her but the bragging part, makes her less likeable to me. On the contrary, we have another employee who has a lot going for her, but instead waits for things to rise to the surface. It really is too bad the the first employee is too busy bragging about herself that she does not pick up on her colleagues cues. Both will eventually do well..One will burn bridges getting there.
Unfortunately I think we all know people like that. Thanks for reading the post and sharing your comment.
ReplyDelete