Downplaying Your Worth; a Critical Mistake?

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” — Oscar Wilde

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

For many years I used to believe downplaying my talent would make me a more humble guy. Yeah, I guess so in a sense. But it does backfire for the most part.

Although it was only a verbal thing, not giving yourself recognition to not seem cocky does more harm than good. Let’s explore further.

Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up

A simple switch of mindset turned me into a more “realistic” person. I would’ve loved to replace that word with “positive” but I’d be lying.

Sure, severe self-critiques do make you appear like you don’t boast about your life much, but people are interested and there are ways to let them dig into your world without sounding like you’re having a bragging contest.

In my personal experience, I tend to think out loud. it helps me process how I wanna say things and how the other person will perceive that information. This occurs when I’m alone, on the phone, while I’m cleaning, in public, etc. It organizes my thoughts as they’re constantly flowing through my head.

Now assuming I would repeatedly downplay my work or achievements for socializing purposes (to not sound cocky), it could tweak my thought process into actually believing what I’m discussing.

“Nothing crazy, made small improvements.” I tend to deliver that message when telling people about how things are going. Truth is, I dread small talk (childish excuse) right away and give out generic answers. It’s not intentional, but it is convenient and straight to the point.

And let’s be real, the only good reason to take that shortcut when socializing is to not sound annoying. I mean look, I probably don’t but it’s still a slight fear of mine. I enjoy picking brains as long as it doesn’t waste the person’s time, and both parties leave the conversation more educated.

Think it, Speak it, Apply it!

I welcome you to try this if you don’t practice it already. Re-wire your brain into choosing a more appropriate vocabulary for these particular conversations, either with yourself or with others.

Thoughts affect our words and our words affect our actions. I don’t believe they always work in that particular order but I like to think there’s a correlation. Well, this article is my job to get down to the bottom of it so meh, here goes my all.

TFAR: Your Thoughts lead to your Feelings, which lead to your actions, which lead to your Results. Your results reinforce your initial thoughts so they become self-fulfilling prophecies. After proving yourself right over and over again, your thoughts become beliefs. Beliefs then become automatic thoughts that drive your behaviors. In other words, habits.

*Extract from The Huff Post, by Michelle May, M.D., Contributor*

Think about it…

All I did was sit back and think it through. It makes sense, and as another popular belief goes; habits draw the line between success and procrastination.

My opposite of success isn’t a failure, it’s waking up the next day as the same person I was yesterday. — No new knowledge, no working on my goals, no ambition.

A bit like the term “Cold” not being a concept, instead described as a lack of heat. I believe Failure doesn’t exist, it is just a lack of proper habits.

Thomas Mo St-Louis