Recently I wrote, a countdown (or count up) to a big birthday.
In the weeks leading up to the day I excitedly and sometimes nervously shared a nugget, insight, story or lesson about something I’d learned from life over the decades.
Day one was looming and I joined my weekly writing room, the prompt shared seemed like the perfect way to start this particular writing journey so, even though it seems strange to share something personal on a professional page so here’s why…
On this particular day, we were prompted to write a love letter to ourselves embracing aspects of who we are.
This theme sat squarely with me for a number of reasons:
1 Knowing who we really are is a key piece of the fourth pillar of the Visibility Activator System, a system which allows us to raise our professional profile and for over a decade has allowed people across the world to elevate their career development rapidly.
2 I’ve frequently spoken about humans not being born with a manual, so a lot of my past coaching has explored the self, even when it’s been sales, speaker, presentation, video and impact based. Visibility is definitely an inside job.
3 It occurred to me that a topic that initially might appear soft and irrelevant for being strategic, professional or highly regarded within an industry, is often applicable to an individuals life too. As one who kept a lot of my professional life segmented into business or personal, I have seen first hand the positive insights this brought about in my life. I’ve also witnessed many highly successful people question their life, career and status because they’ve searched for meaning or purpose, and then go on to wonder why their professional life seems to implode.
To be candid, while I created a repeatable system to help all types of people be more visible and more seen in their life, I’ve always valued great professional relationships. I’ve noticed over the years that those who created success on all levels were those who showed their human side when it really mattered.
- From the MD, CEO and Director who updated their entire workforce on a daily basis, while they were leading the business through a 90 consultation period on notice of redundancy.
- To the board member who sat their new board member down to explain a riff that no one else in the business would talk about.
- To the founder who, empathised with their senior leader who’s children were being home schooled during the pandemic and succumbed to sickness and still made concessions because it was the right thing to do.
There are so many more stories, but humanising difficult, professional and strained circumstances wins every time.
In order to share the insights that I found when writing from the prompt I was given, I’ll share what I actually wrote here too. I shared parts of this on social media which lead to people asking me, “When is the book being published?’
They found it useful, and I hope you will too.
The first thing that springs to mind is that I am pretty quirky, unconventional and often think differently and there are reasons why, but instead of following the pattern of justifying or seeking validation, I’m sharing this letter of love for me.
I love myself for those quirks, the unconventional and the differences even though I’ve spent many decades trying to fit it, not making a spectacle of myself or rocking the boat.
I believe that so many of us wish we’d been told this in our younger years in a way we could have heard it.
Dear Jenny.
It’s ok to look different, that will actually give you a springboard to standing out, in all the right places and some very cool spaces, This will stand you in good stead for the many opportunities you take in life.
Grab them with gusto, the same gusto today as you did in your teens, and over the decade since your 20’s!
Those opportunities led to being seen at Google, receiving awards and being invited to speak and train companies. nationally and internationally.
It’s ok that you have those long skinny legs, for as much as a small percentage of the population found them fun to ridicule. They’ll go on to bring you the kind of attention that at 19 made you model material, got you the coolest gigs, at the coolest clubs, in the coolest places, with the coolest people.
Those same legs allowed you to explore many corners of the globe, while sinking your feet into sandy and pebble beaches.
Those legs allowed you to walk across hot coals, those same legs marched across broken glass and ran all 26.2 miles of the London Marathon without the encouraging crowds to cheer you on in 2020.
Those legs are still skinny but strong.
It’s ok to be kind. When people tell you to grow a thicker skin, take off the rose tinted glasses, or that you don’t see the real world, they simply don’t see you. Any advantage that was taken of your kindness, has nothing to do with that kindness and everything to do with the other, not the self.
You’ve learned that in the moments that someone is not being kind, they’re not ok.
It’s ok that you’re talkative, this became the making of you, you learned when to talk and when to listen, when to whisper and when to shout, when to speak and when to save your words. You learned first hand from the day you started at school that it while it’s not allowed to talk during class that your voice mattered.
This gave you the deepest insights into what happens when people are not heard and why their voice matters too.
It’s ok to do things differently this really has gifted many in the most unexpected ways, giving yourself permission to be different gave you permission to succeed, giving yourself permission to succeed gave you permission to dream and that led to your ability to embrace doing life differently. Embracing difference is being a catalyst, an alchemist, a magic maker and as many have said, a life changer.
It’s more about who we become than what we’ve done
Today and every day my invitation to you, is to begin to deepen the journey that celebrates YOU.
Who is Jenny Kovacs?
Jenny Kovacs is a Visibility Special known as The Queen of Being Seen, she speaks, trains, and Mentors People to be Visible & Confidently Seen.
Jenny has regularly appeared on BBC throughout the UK and speaks on the topic of professional visibility internationally. Creator of the Visibility Activator System™, Jenny’s five key pillars show you ways to be visible, and how to raise your professional profile.
Jenny’s trainings and talks have spanned well known corporations, brands, companies and been delivered to 1000’s of clients delivered worldwide, both in person and online covering the art and science to being seen without feeling like a show off!.
To discuss ways to work with Jenny, schedule a suitable time to talk here.