After grabbing ideas from here and there on what to blog about, here i come with a fresh post on those poor souls who have come into this world to make others’ life miserable with their constant BRAG about whatever they do, or dont do.
According to Wikipedia, a bragger is someone who talks ‘boastfully’. Well, if you ask me its an understatement;) Braggers don’t just boast about what they are and what they can do, but they often take it to a next level where they make up stuff and lie blatantly just to be considered ‘cool’ and ‘out there’. Above all, they are bigtime attention seekers and would say anything and everything to make you listen to them. They can brag about their new car which daddy bought them, they wont think twice before bragging about their high profile job which they might not even have, they could also take credit for someone else’s achievements and wont care less, or they might just surprise you one day saying that they are the next Bill Gates when in reality they have no freaking idea of what he is all about!
On a serious note, these people are victims of inferiority or superiority complexes and are attempting to hide their own insecurity. There’s a part of them that doesn’t feel worthy, and they’re constantly afraid they’ll be “found out.”
My 2 cents on how to handle braggers. Firstly, it wont take you long to find out if a person is bragging or not. Cos these people are way better than brands in building their equity;) I feel the worse thing you can do to them and yourself is to ignore. Never ignore. Let them have a taste of their own medicine. Confront them, challenge them, humiliate them, tease them, make fun of them. Do whatever it takes to make them realize that you know they are bragging and they better pack their bags and get lost! I usually never get along with such people and some of them are so consistent in their brags that no matter how much you make fun of them, they never seem to stop. That’s when i stop talking to them. Cos, at the end of the day, they are really not worth being friends with. When you know that the person is gonna lie about every damn word that he utters, how can you expect to trust and believe him. And i dont believe in superficial relationships. So when they start getting on my nerves, honey its time to say good bye;)
However, there’s another dimension to bragging which I call ’workplace bragging’. What do you do when some lazy bum who is an absolute good for nothing got promoted or rewarded for sheer bragging? Sometimes playing office politics is still the way to get noticed by management and those who really work hard sort of finish last. On such instances, one is bound to think that are the managers too shallow to know the truth? Well, if you think about it, the managers simply DON’T KNOW the truth because YOU didn’t tell them your accomplishments and your colleague did.
I believe that yes bragging might get you one increment or promotion but wont take you anywhere from there if you dont deliver. Yes, in workplace environment it takes quite a bit of ’selling’ to get you to the top but it takes ‘peak performance’ to stay there. Your results speak for yourself. If you are an outstanding performer there is nothing that can stop you from being noticed. Having said that, if you dont sell your accomplishments it might take you a while to get noticed. So, while you focus on delivering your best at work, also ensure that you spend some time in showcasing what you have done.
) Thanx for the tag…here I go:
used to grab a stethoscope and move around the house treating everyone as a patient 