My Achilles Heel in the Author’s World (8/27/14)
A friend of mine just got a much deserved promotion after being with her company for eight years. She works her tail off and is a go to employee when a problem arises, but she was held back because she didn’t have her college degree. Personally I think that’s a ridiculous policy because I’m more impressed by proof of success based on results. Don’t get me wrong an MBA from the University of Chicago is impressive, but it isn’t an accurate depiction of a persons value.
When someone lists off all their accomplishments my immediate reaction in the back of my mind is, “Yeah, so what?” A perfect example is this guy that I actually study and follow. He is probably one of the best content creators I know of, based on both quantity and quality of content. He’s also a really hard worker. There aren’t enough good things I can say about the guy, but I have one major problem. He’s always thumping his chest for the entire world to see how successfully he has been, who he knows, how much money he’s made, and how amazing his life is. He’s leveraging past results to demonstrate value, but inadvertently he’s decreased his worth in my eyes.
Results are good to have. I take that back; results are great to have. Having already achieved success boosts your confidence for future endeavors. However, if you’re going to throw your success in my face sooner, rather than later, I’m going to tune you out. If you have an overwhelming need for the fanfare than choose a different messenger. If you tell the world it’s boasting. If someone else tells the world for you it’s social proof.
If I were to label my Achilles Heel as an author it would have to be my beliefs on self promotion. I have become so turned off by the self promotion I see in other successful experts that I have become gun-shy. I have migrated to the other end of the spectrum where I rarely speak of my accomplishments. Hopefully I will find a happy balance somewhere along the way, and if I can’t I need to make enough money that I can hire someone that will do my promotion for me. I will just say this be careful in complementing yourself because your self promotion could backfire on you.
