PREPARATION
TO SHOW UP as your best self sounds good, but what does it mean?
The phrasebest self may bring to mind images of looking good, feeling good, and doing good. Your best self may spark memories of you delivering the goods, scoring the point, or closing the deal. Or you might remember a time when you nailed the presentation, asked the right question, or facilitated what turned out to be a fantastic meeting. Write these down.
Your best self includes your decisions, both big and small; your fears, both big and small; and your hopes and dreams.
It also includes what got you to where you are today, both the good and the “not yet.” Your best self is about your fullness as a human being, your stories of success and your stories of failure. Those moments in your life have defined you and directed you and, in some ways, determined or influenced your path. Your best self is your most credible self.
We talk about showing up as your best self on video becausewho you bring to your work is more important thanwhat you say.
Simply said, you show up as you. Do you change when you get in front of a camera? Many of us behave differently. So, it takes a little homework to be the best, most natural, and most credible you.
This is why preparation for video starts with knowing your own story. Knowing your story opens the way to knowing your value.
Tiffany is an assistant professor at a major university in the United States. She is wicked smart, curious, and unafraid to speak truth to power. Even in the sometimes-brutal culture of academia, she speaks up.
To create a more open and authentic dialogue within her field, she applied for and was awarded a major grant to promote researchers in her field. She designed a series of workshops aimed at developing interdisciplinary communities. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, these workshops moved online. Tiffany was worried that it would be difficult to build community in a purely virtu
