How do you promote yourself and talk about your achievements:
(1) with confidence and integrity,
(2) without appearing boastful or arrogant,
(3) without underselling your capability and competence?
I’ve wrestled with this conundrum over the years, as have many of my fellow #introverts.
From years of studying personal development and human behaviour, the prevailing wisdom can be distilled into several nuggets:
- Change your mindset, and everything changes.
- Believe in yourself, and others will believe in you.
- Sales is service.
- Focus on the customer’s needs and interests. Stop making it about you.
- Gather results and testimonials from happy clients to remind you of your value when you doubt yourself. It is easier to be promoted by others than to promote yourself, especially for introverts.
- Start with why. When you get anxious that you’re not good enough, or feel discouraged and overwhelmed, remind yourself of why you chose this work, and whose life is being transformed because of it.
Perhaps the best reframe comes from knowing that your gifts and talents are given to you for a purpose.
If you hide them because you are shy or afraid of being judged, you may potentially deprive someone else of the benefit of your wisdom and life experience.
Not letting them know what you do and how you can solve their problem would be an act of disservice.
“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.”
Matthew 5:15