Forget the kiss from a prince, Sleeping Beauty, embrace your own being.

I had to put this in my own blogs: the message is TOO good to pass by.

Seth Godin reminds us why we think we have to hold back, waiting to get picked by some authority, before we will be able to further our own interests:

It’s a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying, “I pick you.” Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you–that Prince Charming has chosen another house–then you can actually get to work.

Those authority figures, the ones that we assume hold the keys to the castle of our own particular field, are the apparent gatekeepers. But Godin insists they are ” .  .  . spending a fortune bringing out pop songs and books that don’t sell.” Does that mean we are better off without them altogether?

If you’re hoping that the HR people you sent your resume to are about to pick you, it’s going to be a long wait. Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound. No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.

This is one tyranny we can overthrow quite painlessly. Forget the kiss from the Prince, Sleeping Beauty. Embrace your own being. Wake up from the tyranny of thinking someone else has to choose you, and choose yourself. Promote yourself. Put yourself out there. You are your only real gatekeeper.

FABULOUS. Thanks, Seth.

#permission #opportunities #SleepingBeauty #Pickyourself #PrinceCharming #Embraceyourownbeing #gatekeepers #HR #SethGodin #tyranny #apparent #kiss #authority