Thought for the Week: Don't Undervalue Yourself

I had spent several days working on an intensive project for a client. They had a lot riding on this project and there was no wiggle room for revisions. It had to be perfect the first time. After spending three days on the project, I emailed it over to the project manager.  Less than half an hour later I received a call from her. She loved it.  Her team loved it. It was exactly what they wanted.

She said, "Taylor, you make me look good! You hit it out of the park!"

I said, "No worries. If I had more time, I could have gone more granular."

As soon as I said it, I realized that what I said undervalued all the hard work I poured into this project. I had earned this compliment. I knew it was great work and I should have simply said "Thank you" without downplaying the time and expert knowledge it took to complete it.

I do this anytime someone gives me a compliment. I met with a new trainer who said "You did a great job in this first session!" and all I could think of was "Well, three years ago I was in better shape and I could have gone twice as long!"  L tells me "You're doing a great job with the baby!" and I say "Well, she's a good baby" but really she is almost two years-old and it takes a lot of patience and time teaching her everything she needs to become a confident, happy, smart, kind, resilient girl.

I think the reason we downplay our value or actions is that we don't want to seem boastful or maybe it's because we feel like what we do should seem effortless. However,  the things that we do, the tasks we accomplish are because of skillsets we learned through education or practice. Whether you excel at your job, or a sport or hobby, you have earned the right to  have that skill recognized. There are other things you could have done like sleep in or go out with your friends instead of learning to code or sew or shoot baskets or paint. If someone thanks you for your kindness, don't say "It was nothing!" Instead say "You're welcome! I'm glad you're happy!"

Its OK to be proud of your accomplishments or the hard work you have put into yourself. Whether you conquered a bad habit, learned a new skill or made someone else's life better, value the work that it took to get you to there.

I know you're going to do something wonderful this week so let me the first to say"Well done! I'm so proud you!"