“So, what are you up to these days?”
I hate that sentence. The underlying context goes something like this: I need you to justify your existence because I haven’t seen proof that you’re accomplishing the requisite amount of milestones on social media.
First of all, I do not need to explain myself to anyone. At all. (Well, except my husband. I promise I’ll Zelle you that money for the mortgage soon.)
Second, people don’t see the work behind achievement. And when you’re in the muck of building or creating something, it can look from the outside that you’re not accomplishing anything. YOU know you’re slaying it. But, from the outside, the world wants proof. (You don’t need to give it to them.)
Here’s one of my favorite quotes — one that is poignant right now in my life journey.
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I happen to know the hours I’m putting into growing a new company and creating a sustainable long-term impervious-to-any-idiotic-algorithm writing career. But, others won’t see it until it’s successful. I know what is possible. I know what I am capable of doing.
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Now, if I were to get a little nerdy about motivation, I’d say that it helps to be more intrinsically motivated — to judge myself only by the goals I have set that I can achieve. But, the world is not really into that. And it’s hard to be solely intrinsically motivated when we live in a practical world. Meaning, I can achieve as many of my goals as I want, but I still need to brush my teeth and pay the phone bill.
Here’s what I’m doing when approached by a person who seems to be a naysayer — a person who will only judge my completed and publicly acclaimed milestones. I simply say something like, “I’m working on some exciting things. I’ll be able to tell you more soon.”
Then, I turn the conversation back to them. People only want to talk about themselves anyway.
Today, I encourage you to judge yourself by your capability, by your creativity, and by your potential. And then prove yourself to be right.
And here’s a screen grab of an article I recently had published in Blueprint Magazine that applies this same concept to marketing. You can click here to read it. :)