In case you don’t know, I’m a heavy podcast listener. I don’t really have a favorite genre. Marketing, movies, sports, startups – if it’s an interview where I can learn something, I’m in. My gym sessions and car drives are basically sponsored by podcasts.
Last week, I noticed something interesting.
For the longest time, I’ve been telling people on my content channel that doing good work isn’t enough anymore.
If you think your work will speak for itself, you’re at a disadvantage.
You have to be the biggest marketer of yourself. Share your work. Take credit for it. Volunteer for new initiatives. Make your presence felt.
Then I listened to two completely unrelated podcasts – one with a startup founder and another with an actor.
Both ended up saying the exact same thing.
The founder, who is from Tamil Nadu, spoke about how many of us are brought up to stay humble. Talking about your achievements or promoting your work is often seen as arrogance. He even mentioned how business owners from Coimbatore run multi-million dollar companies but still downplay their success or call it luck.
His point was simple.
That’s one of the reasons many great brands from Tamil Nadu never become national brands.
If you don’t talk about your work, nobody outside your circle is going to notice it.
The second podcast was with an actor who shared a similar realization.
He said, “I always believed staying silent and doing good work was enough. But over time, people started taking me for granted.”
That line stayed with me.
People started taking me for granted.
I’ve seen this happen firsthand in the workplace.
If you’re always the easy person, people naturally assume you’ll adjust.
I was that person once.
I was the top performer in my team, yet when an opportunity came up to attend an event in London, my manager chose someone else.
Later, I found out the reason.
He knew I would accept the decision quietly, whereas my colleague would push back.
At that time, I thought asking for the opportunity would be embarrassing. Looking back, I wasn’t being humble.
I was allowing people to overlook me.
These days, I approach things differently.
I don’t fight.
But I do ask questions.
I express disappointment when I feel it’s warranted, and I’m clear about what I expect.
There’s a big difference between demanding what you’ve earned and threatening to quit.
One is confidence.
The other is insecurity.
From the execution side…
For a change, I wanted to share something I’m struggling with instead of something that worked.
I’m trying to finish a book.
There are just 23 pages left, and I’ve been procrastinating for days because I’ve completely lost interest.
When I mentioned this to a colleague, she said, “Just quit. DNFs (Did Not Finish) are common.”
Unfortunately, my OCD strongly disagrees.
To make things even more ironic, I hosted a Q&A on Instagram last week and got asked how I deal with procrastination.
I’m not answering that question until I finish those 23 pages.
PS – If you want the link to both videos, just reply to this email.
See you next week 🙂