ITS OKAY TO BEAT YOUR CHEST
When you embark on something that takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication, it can be a very tiring and grueling experience. You must sacrifice things you like and remain entirely focused on the task at hand. This is true but not limited to athletes, people starting a business, or even people trying to advance in their careers. You became obsessed and driven to be the best at what you do. One day that moment comes when you realize that all your hard work was not in vain, and you celebrate. You have achieved a milestone, and you are super proud of yourself. All of a sudden you have people who were not willing to take the risk or put in the work you did to be great, tell you to be humble or that you shouldn't brag about yourself. Some may even have the gall to say "you are still not good enough." So what do you do? You go and get extra degrees or certifications to prove that you are. Why would you ever give someone like that so much power over you? You have earned the right to say how awesome you are and list your accomplishments. You should be your biggest cheerleader if no one else is. So when it comes to your business or career, feel free to beat your chest and say why you are the best at what you do. Let me give you a couple of reasons why.
PEOPLE LOVE TO BE INSPIRED
How many times have you heard the same story over and over again were someone started from humble beginnings and became this great person? As repetitive as that story is it never gets old because people love rooting for underdogs or just people that make something of themselves. Those stories are easily relatable to the masses. Inspiration is something we all seek and being too humble can not just be detrimental to you but to the next generation looking to be inspired. That is something Muhammed Ali did for us. Many of us never saw the man fight live but when we see his interviews and his fight footage we are in awe of his accomplishments. He taught us through his proclamations and affirmations that if you believe in yourself, the whole world can doubt you, but even they can be proven wrong. How else are you able to beat Sonny Liston and George Foreman while being a huge underdog?
BEING HUMBLE CAN COST YOU
I often tell people when applying for a job that if you are called for a job interview, it has already been established that you are qualified for the job. However, many people go to the interview and try to show that they are qualified. The purpose of the interview is to sell yourself to prove why you are an asset to the company as opposed to demonstrating that you can do the job. They already know you can do the job. It works the same way in entrepreneurship. When you own a company you are in the business of selling not only your product or service but the business itself. A timid presentation gives the impression of a weak company, plain and straightforward. When you walk to the negotiation table or when you are selling to a client your job is to let them know that their life will be better with your business in their life. I have seen people lose out on promotions, raises, jobs, and business deals for being too humble or timid. Some baseball scouts will not call a prospect up to the big leagues if they have an ugly girlfriend. Reason being is if the girl is ugly than they lacked the confidence to get the cute girl, which transfers into a lack of confidence in their game. Sounds chauvinistic, I know, but a confident person could care less what you think.
PEOPLE DESERVE THE KNOW THE REAL YOU
When you don't brag about yourself, you don't tell the complete story of you. Yes, people know about your degree and yes people know that you have a great job. However, they don't understand why you chose your degree or why your job matters to you. When you pat yourself on the back, your passion shows and people will know that you are not a robot "going through the motions" of life. I have a friend who is one of the most creative people I know. She can paint, a whiz with makeup, and a passion for education. I try to convince her all the time that she should turn one of those ideas (if not all) into a business. I feel that people only know what she does with her 9-5, but there are so many more layers to her that I wish the world could see. People need to see you for what you are and not what they want you to be. Asserting your awesomeness allows you to do that.
WHATS THE BOTTOM LINE?
THERE IS GREATNESS IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US AND NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO MAKE YOU NOT SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD. You are awesome, at least you have the ability to be, but you must have the courage to be! Your gift can inspire the world. That only adds to your legacy. Asserting your awesomeness will open doors that you never thought imaginable. Allowing people to see who the real you is pays homage to the people that invested in you to get there. So the next time someone advises you to be humble or says that you are not good enough tell them what Ali said years ago, " I'm going to show you how great I am"........because you are. #AnOwlInYourCorner
