I got a compliment the other day and a gremlin fell off my shoulder.
In coaching language, gremlins are the little negative voices that whisper in your ear and remind you that you’re not good enough – smart enough – that you don’t have anything worth saying so you’d better keep quiet – that you better not risk it because you might fail. Recognize any of those?
I had just had lunch with a former co-worker. As we were walking out, he said that he wished we’d become better friends when we worked together. (He’s technical and I was marketing, enough said.) He said I’d always made him laugh.
This guy is a cool guy – way cooler than I am. Assured, reserved, dresses well – he wants to be my friend?
He said he’d sought me out. That’s when the nonplussed gremlin fell off my shoulder – stunned.
I’ll call this gremlin “Buffy.” She reminds me of junior high. Her sneaky whisper assures me that so-and-so already has enough friends.
There is some value to Buffy’s advice. She doesn’t want me to be rejected, after all. But now that I see her and recognize her, maybe I don’t always have to listen.
Maybe I’ll go make a new friend. In any case, the compliment made my day.
Maximize Your Career in Your Current Organization
From a University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education webinar: Prospective clients sometimes ask me how I have the credibility to coach senior executives in industries I know nothing about. Challenging question, right? So I have a choice here: I can answer in a way that risks sounding defensive, talking about my experience and my degrees. I like to do something really unexpected instead.
I like to talk about knots.
