show people your value
You need to bring value to your job, your role, and your life – every day. Chances are you are already creating value and you need to understand the potential of that value and share it with others. If you do not see it, look deeper or look at your work through a different lens.
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The intent is not to brag or inflate ones confidence, but rather to create identifiable contributions that can be capitalized upon for the furthering of a shared mission. By doing so, our work will become more powerful and meaningful to yourself and those around you. This can also help identify further opportunities for you and your team. Overstating your value is off-putting, but failing to identify your value is wasteful. It is not about what you have done in the past, but what you can do in the future. Confidence can be a powerful thing, but it must be balanced with humility. Arrogance alone may lead to some isolated accomplishments, but for the wrong reasons and they will not last. Arrogance combined with ignorance is simply dangerous. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance.
- Showcase your successes. This may be done through an email, publication, press release, or poster. When we create things of value, we should show them to others. Every day the efforts of geniuses go unnoticed because nobody was made aware. Our successes may provide additional value in ways which others can help us understand.
- Dedicate time and energy to your ongoing development. This will both keep us humble and stimulated by new information and possibilities. If we believe that we have nothing else to learn in certain areas – our skills will soon become obsolete. More alarmingly, this lack of humility will be off-putting to others and will limit our potential.
- Pay attention to details when writing and speaking. Grammar, punctuation, semantics, and use of colloquialisms can be a reflection of our character. In writing, they can be a formal and indelible reflection on ones intellect. When speaking, words can be a powerful illustration of our values. In a similar vein, we should not pretend to understand fancy words that shape concepts. Ask for clarification, rather than naively agreeing with a statement or idea that we do not understand.
- Finalize your work with quality artisanship. When creating important documents, convert them to a final format (such as PDF). They look more professional and do not allow others to modify our work. Make sure to save files with descriptive, succinct, and professional file names. Use a heavier weight paper or nicer stock for important print outs.
- Triple check name spellings and titles. Even if you are not bothered by having your name misspelled, many others are - and they may not tell you. Your demonstrating care in this area will be impressive.
- Spend your time on important things, and make sure to do them well. Being busy is not the same as being important. Important people do important things, they are not just busy. Also, the definition of important may be contextual, based on the person and the time. During the work day, writing a report may be most important task, however, in the evening time spending time with family and loved ones may be most important.
- Send and receive electronic information with care. Email communication can be easily abused, and by nature is indelible. Send clear information to the correct people. Make a distinction between which information is appropriate for email, and which should be shared in-person.
- Understand that we build "trust stock" with the people around us. We gain stock when we demonstrate kindness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness. This will afford us the benefit of the doubt in future situations. However, this stock can be depleted or lose value over time if we do not demonstrate consistency. Trust stock should not be confused with a mentality of quid pro quo, which is simply exchanging favors. Our trust stock should be consider intangible and incredibly valuable – and managed with great integrity and ethical considerations. We cannot do everything alone, so it is important to have this investment when need to be able to count on others.
- Be clear and direct in your communication with others. We should not assume that people know what we are thinking, or even that they agree with us. We need to let others know specifically what we can do for them, and what we may need from them. George Bernard Shaw said, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place."