Wednesday 27 November 2013

Blowing ones own 'Trumpet'

Being brought up 'British' we were taught that it is 'terribly bad form' to 'blow ones own trumpet' and for years I believed this to be true.

Recently I started to question this belief asking myself, "Well if I don't, who will?" and "What constitutes 'blowing ones own trumpet'?"

The Phrase Finder defines it as, 'Act in a boastful, self promoting manner'.

At the beginning of this year I took a huge leap of faith. After 20 years in the décor industry I decided to follow my passion and set up a Coaching practice. Like any business today it required me to 'get the word out', advertise, market, self promote.... Ah! There it is ..... I had to 'self promote'!

Does that mean I have to 'blow my own trumpet'? Well yes it does rather. As a solo-entrepreneur have you ever tried to build a website or blog to promote you, your business and your achievements, that doesn't require you to 'self promote' and that doesn't sound boastful?

In olden days a trumpeter was used prior to a herald announcing news or a proclamation; possibly the earliest forms of advertising and marketing, a fore runner to blogging perhaps?

And talking of achievements, on Saturday morning I opened my e-mails to discover I had been awarded the designation of ACC (Associate Certified Coach) by the ICF (International Coach Federation - the world governing body of Coaches.) And whilst I enjoy the word 'awarded' a few others came to mind like; studied for, sweated over, practiced for, paid for and earned.

So in a 'word association' kind of way another word came to mind; celebrate. Which I did with good friends and a bottle or two of bubbles! It struck me that like blowing our own trumpet, if we don't celebrate our hard earned achievements, who will?

And finally I wondered; how many of my other beliefs or assumptions need to be questioned?

What beliefs or assumptions do you value that perhaps no longer serve you as well as they might have once? Please feel free to comment.





1 comment:

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