On getting over yourself

I did something extraordinary today. It was extraordinary only because it was so out of the ordinary for me. I shared a WhatsApp flyer offering an unusual coaching setting, walking coaching along the coastline in Mumbai, with a bunch of my friends and family.

A few things made this act of sharing out of the ordinary for me.

I never "market" myself. I have always believed my work should speak for itself. But I realised that is a fairly redundant idea when the people I work with are often just as shy about talking about themselves as I am about talking about myself.

I also don't talk about myself much. It feels like a boring topic of conversation. If I am honest about the real reason, it isn't boredom. It's that I am terrified of rejection. Silence would have felt deafening if I'd put an idea like this out into the world and heard nothing back.

It's hard to say yet what will come of this small act of defiance against my own instincts. But one outcome has already arrived: relief. I had drafted this flyer and shared it with friends for feedback, and in my need to get it looking and sounding perfect, I forgot my own learnings about the minimum viable product. I can always put out a second idea if this one doesn't land. Slowly, I am coming round to the thought that people will not learn I exist if I don't talk about my work, and don't offer it in different formats for people to try.

For now though, I overcame myself for this little act of defiance. And that is the most meaningful step I have taken in this journey.