Bios, resumes, profiles and self-evaluations. You're going to have so, so, so many times where you're going to have to talk about yourself. Times where you have to talk about why you're great, all the great things you've done and why you deserve to be hired/promoted/given more money.
This is a challenge for some people (ahem, me, ahem) because it feels awkward to boast and talk about yourself in that way. It feels awkward to say "I'm awesome! Look at all the fantastic things I've done!"
But you know what, if you're great, you're great. And if you're great, you deserve to be hired/promoted/givien more money. So you have to speak up.
Funny things is though, the minute you start putting it all on paper, on something someone else will read, it feels like you're doingthemost.com.
It's easy for me to say YOU are awesome and to talk about your skills, amazing talent, wonderful personality and incredible potential to do great things. But the minute I start that sentence with "I..." my head starts spinning.
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It's the creative/professional version of the Dove Sketches - I end up describing myself as less than I am or others see me as. That I end up selling myself short.
Recently, I found a trick: I just pretend I'm writing about someone else.
I write "She" instead of "I" and I think about what other people have said about me, what accomplishments I've made and other things that show how great I am.
I can write paragraphs about this awesome copywriter, Peisha Sneed. There's no awkwardness. No guilt. No self-deprecating or underselling.
Assignment:
Take some time today to go back through your bios/resumes/profiles etc and ask yourself what would you say if it were someone else? How would you show how great they are?
Then at the end, change all the pronouns to I.
