Interviews: Wondering How to Package Your Worth?

If Nairobi weather was a person, I have no doubt they would be narcissistic. Characterized by an impressive sense of self-importance and a lack of empathy for others.

Like, look at today for example? It’s glorious! Spent several minutes soaking in all the beauty and magic this morning.

What I mean to say, I don’t appreciate that it rained the whole weekend. My plans to spend hours looking for wild fruits in the forest remained just that. Plans. On the positive side though, I spent several hours indoors writing about everything and about nothing.

I have lately been fascinated by this idea of owning oneself. By coincidence – though not really – as I was working on a new series called OWN, I noticed something that had not crossed my mind before. The similarities of the letters in these two words.

OWNING & KNOWING (you see it too right?)

Like you can KNOW your VOICE but not OWN your VOICE

You can KNOW you are CAPABLE but not OWN your ABILITIES

You can KNOW you are TALENTED but not OWN your TALENTS

You can KNOW your BELIEFS/VALUES but not OWN them in your day to day ACTIONS

You can KNOW YOURSELF but not OWN who YOU ARE

You can KNOW you are BADASS but not OWN your BADASSERY (yes it’s a word)

You can KNOW Your SELF-WORTH but not OWN YOUR WORTH through your BEHAVIORS & DECISIONS

You can KNOW you are BEAUTIFUL but not OWN your BEAUTY

You can KNOW you are HANDSOME but now OWN your HANDSOMENESS

You can KNOW you are EXTRAORDINARY but not OWN your EXTRAORDINARINESS

You can KNOW you are GIFTED but now OWN your GIFTS

You can KNOW your PATH but not OWN the WALK

You can KNOW you are AMAZING but not OWN your AMAZING TRAITS

You can KNOW you are WORTH MORE but not OWN your WORTHINESS

And so on. You can keep adding your OWN. (see what I did there?)

As I sunk deeper in the rabbit hole of figuring who else has similar thoughts, I stumbled upon a Kenyan born philosopher living in the UK who wrote a book on OWNING Your Identity...apparently, there are 10 steps to it...the book is called KNOWING SOMETHING:10 steps to OWNING Your Identity by Dr. Syano Musyimi

Further confirming that you can know something but there is an extra mile or more needed to own and become what you know.

I shared this with a couple of circles, and many thought ‘oh this is soo profound.’ I KNEW it was PROFOUND, the confirmation made me OWN its PROFOUNDNESS. Suddenly, I wasn’t angry at Nairobi's weather anymore.

Other google experts argue Knowing is Owning - but from a personal experience, I am doubtful...

If you’ve ever heard people say great things about you, but you felt disconnected from how it feels to be those great things, then you know what I mean.

In case you are still wondering what does all this have to do with me and hacking interviews and succeeding in my career?.

Well, dear, it’s pretty simple: If you are aware (KNOW) of your greatness, your strengths, your talents, your value, your worth, your ability to contribute, your gifts, the awesomeness that you bring to the team, BUT aren’t (OWNING ALL of IT) then you are destined to always sell yourself short.

I see it all the time. These amazing humans whom I know too well that they are capable of so much more, yet the way they speak about themselves, the way they present themselves in their job applications, is extremely underwhelming.  A potential employer's job is not to struggle as they try to figure out if you can do the job greatly, it's for you to show them you can.

If you want to stand out, master your level of knowing thy self and owning thy self and the rest really, CVs’, interview coaching, finding the right language, branding yourself, all that will just be icing on the cake.

Back to Dr. Syno’s book on Knowing and Owning things, the description of his book is interesting to indulge with as you step into the last month of crazy 2020…tik tok...

''In an increasingly tense world where peoples with different beliefs must now live amongst each other, we may honestly conclude that more is needed for harmony than a vague commitment to tolerance. I offer a more interactive and fundamental way. This book takes the reader through a journey of understanding why they believe what they believe. It also places them in the mind of other (opposing) believers. The 10 steps ask the reader honest questions about themselves so that they will not only justify their beliefs but understand why they and others believe what they do''.

So tell me, what do you KNOW you need to OWN in order to step fully into your greatness? To be the Extraordinary being you KNOW you are, what do you need to OWN?

Happy New Week Fam!

Love & Light

Martha