This is not a “Prepare to be amazed by my legendary status” article – au contraire

One of my favorite movie quotes of all time is the laconic Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in Sudden Impact telling his superior officer “Yeah... you're a legend in your own mind."

And I always wondered what it is about that quote that deeply resonated with me. Maybe a constant reality check for my soul that soared after watching movies like “The Legend of Bruce Lee” and I dreamed to be a legend someday myself. Decades later the import of that comment dawned on me – thanks to today’s self-styled social media legends. What am I talking about? Let me explain. An ex-colleague of mine who switched jobs recently published this article on LinkedIn – “Why I am making this change from A to B…”. And it irked me. Why? Because it reminded me of Clint Eastwood. I wanted to shout out - no one gives a s*@# my friend. But in a moment of generosity, I decided to comb through the article to see if there were any takeaways for the reader. Nada. Zilch. It was all about that individual and their legendary brilliance.

We have self-styled legends all around us. Ones that wake up with a mission every day – to remind the world know of their continued brilliant persona. This is not a rant – ok it is – but it is also advice on how to not waste your time and everyone else’s but instead, put it to good use. Simple truth – if you are a legend, the world craves to know when you woke up, brushed your teeth, tweeted, deleted an inebriated tweet etc – a la Justin Bieber. And if you are not a legend, like most of us, then pretending to be one is a big turn off.

Here is the advice as promised. Take it from someone who did stumble through moments of delusional legendary moments, so this is not idle pontification.

1.   Talk about failures. The more the better. And what you learned from it. Why? So, others can maybe avoid those failures and experiment with new ones instead. And it makes you approachable and vulnerable. Hard to do it in real life or on a social platform? Absolutely. Takes courage, audacity, and self-awareness.

2.   Recognize others in your journey. Maybe you are in a good place right now. Power to you. But who helped you get there? Friends, family, an unknown benefactor, mentors, an obnoxious colleague maybe who unconsciously made you a better person. Call them out and give them credit.

3.   Offer to actually help others. Writing a post on LI is one thing. Offering to mentor others so they can benefit from your wisdom (hey, everyone has something to offer) is a wonderful gift too. I learned a simple but powerful question from an ex-colleague many years ago “What can I do for you”? It genuinely creates a bond like no other. But ask it only if you mean it.

Life is short. Helping others to better their lives makes it worth living. Talking about yourself and tooting your own horn sucks. Clint Eastwood nailed it in his cowboy boots and hat. If you haven’t seen Sudden Impact, stop reading this inane article and head out to Blockbuster – JK - #Netflix.