Say Less, Do More.
Why you should show your value, not speak it.
Sometimes, the best way to prove your value is to show it. Work hard. Impress people. Be humble.
Far too often, people brag and brag and brag. Like I said in a previous post, yes it is important to celebrate yourself, but don’t brag.
Don’t tell people about how you can plan an event. Plan an event and show them.
Don’t tell people about how you are the best at a card game. Play a card game.
Would you tell someone how organized you are? No. You would probably just show them a picture of something you organized.
Would you tell someone how great of a writer you are? No. You would probably just show them an article you’ve written.
Make yourself proud with everything you do. Why would you do something you aren’t proud of?
Let me give you an example.
Recently I was tasked with planning the University Honors Day ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, numerous administrators approached me to say how the ceremony was great and that they “didn’t know I knew how to plan an event.”
One even asked why I had never shared that with them.
For clarification, I was a Catering Operations Manager for 4 years in high school and my first few years of college, running weddings and company picnics for 10,000 employees of Natures Bounty (the people who make the fish oil pills you see everywhere).
I flipped the question back to the administrator.
“Why would I? That’s not what I am studying so I don’t tell people. I’d rather just show them I can,” I said.
The administrator and I are pretty close and they didn’t know this about me. Now imagine people who don’t know me at all.
I would never walk up to someone I did not know and tell them all the things I could do.
However, they now know that I can do it because I showed that I can without saying a single word.
So how did I learn this lesson?
Funny enough, I learned it by seeing what not to do.
So often, I saw people who would try to tell people what they did.
I interviewed hundreds of people while I was in catering. Most of the ones I hired showed me their value in their resume.
Not by having hundreds of jobs or even a lot of experience, but by showing a neat, professional resume. By showing up early to their interview. By coming prepared with questions. By being respectful.
Show people your value. Show people your worth. Show people you.
I haven’t always been this confident. I haven’t always been this proud. I haven’t always been this secure. But this is me now and I am proud of where I am and who I am.
