Everybody wants to be the best at something, and be recognized for it. This applies in the workplace, with friends and family, and anywhere where there is an opportunity for people to add value. This thought occurred to me when I was reminiscing about the years when I was a kid and really athletic the fastest runner in my school at only 14 years of age. The kids at P.E. gave me the nickname "Cheetah" because I was so fast on the field.
Later, when I moved to the United States from India, I also became the only kid in my high school with a cool Indian accent. Everyone though it was really funny to hear it, and it broke a lot of ice when I was dealing with culture shock, and made me a lot of friends when I needed them most. So I was again the best at something. Moving to college, and now adult life, people don't really talk about "being the best at something anymore". Think about yourself: did you find yourself to be great at something when you were younger, but now if asked can't put a finger on it. As a social group, people don't talk about "being the best" at work or in social gatherings of family and friends. But that doesn't mean people aren't great at something! Right?
We are all talented individuals who have a lot to offer our social groups, but we are somehow not celebrated for our good traits like we were as kids. Maybe its a personal wish, but I think anyone who has experienced it as a child wants to believe they're still the best at something, whatever that may be.
I think everybody wants to be the best at something. People want to be recognized, people want to have a trait at which they can claim "I do this better than anybody else. And this is what makes me valuable." But this HAS to be a societal thing. This is simply not possible on a personal, one to one level. It's just not. This has to be all or out.
Everybody has to kind of agree on it and that person really has to be TRULY GOOD at it.
Instead as adults, we've abandoned the desire to push ourselves to our limits, and identify the best about everyone. We become accustomed to settling and giving compliments.
This needs to change, especially if you're a Manager or an alpha in your group. Groups should identify the things at which they're great, and celebrate those things. Whether its in a professional team, or a group of college friends, people appreciate being recognized for their best qualities, and those qualities help them become their future selves. By taking away that greatness as adults, we're essentially depriving ourselves of the ability to be the best at something.
Here's an exercise: Identify a person/group/team within your social circle, make sure it's something that the person/group/team is good at, and then try to recognize them for it. They will feel better about themselves, and as an extension, about you.
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