The older I get, the less I seem phased about the apologetic platitudes surrounding one’s proclamation about being ‘a shameless self promoter’. It is a statement that is void because it cancels itself out. In essence, what you’re doing is saying sorry to someone for something that you haven’t done or said yet, but… you’re going to say it anyway. So… why waste oxygen?
The tacit disquiet that surrounds ‘blowing one’s own trumpet’ can plunge a person into an unnecessary state of self flagellation. Granted, nobody likes a show off but if you’re with peers who are intelligent and engaging human beings and you are offering an insight into something that others didn’t know before now then, why the hell should you hold back? All this is doing is chastening you for your hard work which intern may incite apathy.
According to Peter Kalos, a former acting coach of mine, (a worldly man who is not one to shy away from a name drop or ten) this fear of self promotion is a cultural thing. He says that it is rampant in Australasia, where as, in LA, to be coy about your achievements will only secure your plane ticket home.
For me, I have let so many opportunities slip away because I had thought that I would be judged if I vocalised my achievements… I believed that I would be viewed as a ‘big shot’. See, I too suffered… and still suffer envy triggered by the achievements of others, so the word ‘wanker’ slips into my vocabulary at times. But what I’ve come to realise is that, if by chance I am in the company of those who will judge me in this way, it’s the wrong company. If I get envious, I go against the grain and congratulate them. I’ll be miserable otherwise.
If I’m going to talk about myself nowadays, I reel off in internal monologue along the lines of, “Brace yourself, here it comes”.
I’ll only be sorry if I sell my self short.