During a Q&A session at the recent book launch event, this question below came up: such an interesting question and I wanted to share my answers with you.
What can you say about Showing up vs Showing off?
For me, there are two ways to look at this. When we’re sharing something online or talking to others about our work, we could be feeling that we’re showing off instead of showing up. OR when we’re browsing social media, and we come across posts from others and we feel that someone is showing off instead of showing up.
When you feel like you’re showing off
This feeling may come up when you’re not operating within your personal values of integrity or alignment. Questions to ask yourself when you feel that way is:
- Is what I’m sharing aligned with my own values?
- Is what I’m sharing going to help my audience (my clients)?
- What purpose is it (sharing your ideas/products/achievements etc.) serving?
The point to get back to, as always, is that your brand building (marketing) isn’t about you. It’s about the people you seek to serve.
When you feel like others are showing off
This feeling does come up for me sometimes as well. When I notice that feeling, I ask myself:
- What part of me is feeling this way?
- What do I have to believe to feel this way?
I would like to tell you that, on a personal level, it doesn’t matter even one iota what people are sharing and how people are showing up. What matters is how you perceive what’s happening around you.
Often, when a negative feeling comes up in this context, the first thing to do is to question yourself. More often than not, when I see something that grates me, that is something that I have rejected or repressed within myself. We want to know what that is because it’s all part of our self-awareness that we’re continually developing.
