The Art of Self-Promotion | Lizz Smoak | TEDxWestBrowardHigh

well growing up an only child you can imagine I was raised pretty close to the vest under my parents wing when I went away to college to Philadelphia my parents sold the house packed it all up right in the middle of Hurricane Andrew and came with me to Philadelphia two years into my closely monitored academia my father had a mild health crisis and we all moved back to Florida so that he could recover now I was called upon to toe the line for the family finances and by no means was that bittersweet for me I couldn't have asked for anything better not for my father but for me see I was born an entrepreneurs daughter my father had sales figures running through his veins and you could pluck creativity from my mother like apples from a tree so when I was called on to enter the corporate world I was ready I knew what it took to serve as a customer I knew what it meant to be timely I knew what it meant to be reliable and trustworthy see but it wasn't always that way I took a lot of beatings not from high parents from the kids at school because the more that my parents pushed for me to stand out and rise up the lonelier it got up there I remember clearly one day sitting on the couch and saying to my mother when I have a child I'm never going to push them to be different it's too hard the abuse and the pain is just not worth it so the first day of that job finally arrived and I was prepared like every good corporate girl in my good corporate dress wearing my black pleather skirt and my cow printed shirt and my hair was crossed in a banana clip it was the early 90s remember and there I sat in my very own desk in my very own space for the very first time I was 20 it might as well have been the Oval Office for me return desk and as I waited for my boss to come down the hallway he delivered the order of the morning he handed me a floppy disk and a contract that he had read penned and he said to me make these changes and give it back to me now my entrepreneurial father trained me in computing on his laptop it was about this big and it was pasty beige so heavy I couldn't even carry it it had a tiny little screen that flipped up and it lit up bright green so I am asked my computing skills right then and there on Lotus 1-2-3 so of course first day of the job I call the only tech support I had relied on 1-800 called add right and I was literally under the desk on the phone dad I have a contract on a disk but how do I get the disk in the computer and he says to me okay there's probably a slot on the front of the computer stick the disk in the slot turn the knob lock it down dad it's in he says okay type C colon backslash C colon backslash nothing dad nothing happened liz is the computer screen green I said no dad it's black so Liz the computer is off said okay how do I turn it on he says around the back there should be a big toggle switch so I feel around the back sure enough I flipped the switch green glow we had liftoff C colon backslash and there came raining down cryptic words and letters and numbers it's all kind of fuzzy from there but all I was concerned with was progress was being made there was my document I could change the contract type over the words and I could type in C colon backslash print and out it came I was so thrilled I had done my very best but you see I was only successful that day because my parents unknowingly taught me the invaluable art of self-promotion I was only brave enough to send my resume to that job and crazy enough to believe that I at 20 could support my parents financially you see my daughter is now five years old and every morning we start our day with our hands on heart and we say you have the heart of a lion and you will love yourself no matter what the world tells you because she will need the art of self-promotion again and again and again throughout her life from the science fair to the spelling bee to the cheerleading squad pick me to the first day in her first job now some of you here in this room whether you're 14 or 68 still haven't mastered the art of self-promotion and that's okay because wherever you are in your timeline tonight is a really good night to start because inside of you there lives a message a message worth telling it is your skill and your survival instinct that needs to be told but I'm going to caution you there is great risk in self-promotion because you see the only thing that stands between you and everyone you look up to is self-promotion the risks are that you may make an impact you may help someone out of that toxic job you may inspire someone out of their abusive relationship you may make a difference in this world so you can either rise up right now and tell the story that is authentically you or you can step back into the shadow where no one sees and no one hears and you can watch the world go by or you can step into the light and heal the world with your message now you're probably wondering to yourself what is this story what's my story how do I tell my story if you allow yourself to go back into your darkest time your darkest hour loss death heartbreak financial ruin bankruptcy health crisis your message comes from that mess and it is your skill and your survival instinct that took you from that mess to your success and no matter where you are your story must be told so tonight I would ask that you infuse your story into every person you touch student neighbor friend strangers the world it's a large if not the only part of you that connects you to the rest of us and tonight I'll also ask you put your hand on heart and look in the mirror and say you have the heart of a lion and you will love yourself no matter what the world tells you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 137,237

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Life, Achievement, Art, Brand, Exposure, Goal-setting, Productivity, Self, Self improvement, Self-help

Id: mQaGDTkyrJk

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 21 2016