I’ve been laughing to myself quite regularly recently as I hear new expressions and imagine how I’ll incorporate them into my daily vocabulary. I also laugh as others receive my new vocabulary! We had friends over recently and I decided to try one out for fun, telling someone they had rizz. Met with blank stares, I kindly enlightened them that they had charisma. Rizz. Obvs.
It’s hard to keep up with all the new language, you might say. Bet, I’d respond. And this of course could cause a person to become salty. Which in turn could cause me to be accused of being sus. Rest assured, I don’t cap.
The truth is, I had to look all these terms up (see glossary). I don’t even try to keep up. I do hear new terms and try to figure them out, but I’m fully aware that once people of a certain age begin using terms that make it into the Urban Dictionary, the young people immediately stop using them.
This week, however, I was listening to a radio call-in show as I drove to an appointment. An author was being interviewed. Toward the end of the interview, the interviewer said he wanted to give his guest a signal boost. I kind of understood the gist of what he was saying, but given my ineptitude for new terms, I put it in my memory bank to look up once I was home. Amazingly, I was able to remember the term.
In general, signal boosting refers to sharing another’s information with one’s own audience, with the purpose of drawing attention to their cause, work, or platform. I might give our Chinook County Dance group a signal boost by mentioning them in a blog (like this), or by using social media to invite people to come to watch us. However, one can also give themselves a signal boost, drawing attention to some part of themselves or their work.
When I was being raised, we would not have been encouraged to signal boost ourselves. Drawing attention to ourselves was not looked upon with favour. It would have been seen as bragging or demanding the spotlight, neither of these were attributes to which we were encouraged to aspire. However, as I thought about this term, signal boost, and before I looked it up, I began to roll it around in my head and I realized that each of us could stand to do a bit more of it in service of fully stepping into our best selves. It’s hard to live a full and rich life, a life where we are fully engaged, when we play small, when we minimize ourselves, and when we withhold some of the best parts of ourselves from others.
I thought about the many people I have worked with who, I have discovered, have incredible qualities and talents I knew nothing about. The reason for this is the same reason others know nothing about them. Theses people too, were raised on my diet of not promoting ourselves. Not only were we encouraged to not promote ourselves, we were actually encouraged to minimize our strengths. This was partly to keep aligned with not bragging, but also, more troubling especially for women especially, it was to not make others feel lesser.
To use the Urban Dictionary, that nonsense was extra!
Throughout our lives there are beginnings and endings. Some are big, some are small. Some are marked with significance, even fanfare, some with nothing at all. We start new jobs, we end careers. We begin a family, our children move on to have their own lives. We take up hobbies, we end those same hobbies. We nourish friendships, and friendships fade. No matter the length of our encounter with others or with organizations, we leave some kind of imprint. The thing is this, people will only know of us what we reveal. If we want to be known as a leader, we need to reveal ourselves as such. We need to signal boost, taking actions that highlight our leadership. This may mean taking on a new title, or simply using our voice at the right time in the right way so others have the opportunity to notice us through a leadership lens.
If we wish to be known as brave, we need to demonstrate, signal boost, our bravery. Being brave inside our own minds doesn’t translate to bravery in the minds of others who can’t see it. Bravery doesn’t have to mean skydiving or starting a new business. It can mean repeated acts of integrity. It can mean speaking truth to power. It can mean challenging thinking that is hurtful to others. It can mean living with honour, not worrying about whether our actions will receive signal boosts from others.
If we wish to be known as a lover of music, we might consider making more room in our life for music. We might need to take out our earbuds, perhaps attend live music events or join with others to make music. If we wish to be known for our kindness, we can practice acts of kindness. The same goes for having a sense of humour, for being spontaneous, generous, creative and inventive. If we want to be known for our love of nature, perhaps we need to stand in it.
Whatever this thing is inside us, this thing we want to be known for, this thing we want to leave behind as part of the memory of us, this impact we want to have, it’s time to give it a signal boost. Not for bragging rights, not to shine a spotlight on us, but in order for us to live, out loud, the life we are quietly imagining.
Do something drip this week. Something that will have others remark, sheesh! Signal boost some part of your life you’ve let lie dormant too long. Make others say, upon seeing this part of you, ‘I was shook!’.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘What part of my life needs signal boosting?’
Elizabeth is a certified professional Leadership Coach, and the owner of Critchley Coaching. She is the founder and president of the Canadian charity, RDL Building Hope Society. She works with corporations, non-profits and the public sector, providing leadership coaching. She creates and facilitates custom workshops for all sizes of groups and has expertise in facilitating Strategic Plans for organizations. Contact Elizabeth to learn how to signal boost.
Glossary
Bet: I agree, good news!
Salty: Being upset over something little
Sus: Giving the impression that something is suspicious.
Cap: Another word for lying.
Extra: Being over the top, excessive; dramatic behaviour.
Drip: When something is very cool.
Sheesh: An expression for when you are impressed or amazed by something
Shook: Being shocked or surprised. When you can’t believe what you are seeing.
It’s hard to keep up with all the new language, you might say. Bet, I’d respond. And this of course could cause a person to become salty. Which in turn could cause me to be accused of being sus. Rest assured, I don’t cap.
The truth is, I had to look all these terms up (see glossary). I don’t even try to keep up. I do hear new terms and try to figure them out, but I’m fully aware that once people of a certain age begin using terms that make it into the Urban Dictionary, the young people immediately stop using them.
This week, however, I was listening to a radio call-in show as I drove to an appointment. An author was being interviewed. Toward the end of the interview, the interviewer said he wanted to give his guest a signal boost. I kind of understood the gist of what he was saying, but given my ineptitude for new terms, I put it in my memory bank to look up once I was home. Amazingly, I was able to remember the term.
In general, signal boosting refers to sharing another’s information with one’s own audience, with the purpose of drawing attention to their cause, work, or platform. I might give our Chinook County Dance group a signal boost by mentioning them in a blog (like this), or by using social media to invite people to come to watch us. However, one can also give themselves a signal boost, drawing attention to some part of themselves or their work.
When I was being raised, we would not have been encouraged to signal boost ourselves. Drawing attention to ourselves was not looked upon with favour. It would have been seen as bragging or demanding the spotlight, neither of these were attributes to which we were encouraged to aspire. However, as I thought about this term, signal boost, and before I looked it up, I began to roll it around in my head and I realized that each of us could stand to do a bit more of it in service of fully stepping into our best selves. It’s hard to live a full and rich life, a life where we are fully engaged, when we play small, when we minimize ourselves, and when we withhold some of the best parts of ourselves from others.
I thought about the many people I have worked with who, I have discovered, have incredible qualities and talents I knew nothing about. The reason for this is the same reason others know nothing about them. Theses people too, were raised on my diet of not promoting ourselves. Not only were we encouraged to not promote ourselves, we were actually encouraged to minimize our strengths. This was partly to keep aligned with not bragging, but also, more troubling especially for women especially, it was to not make others feel lesser.
To use the Urban Dictionary, that nonsense was extra!
Throughout our lives there are beginnings and endings. Some are big, some are small. Some are marked with significance, even fanfare, some with nothing at all. We start new jobs, we end careers. We begin a family, our children move on to have their own lives. We take up hobbies, we end those same hobbies. We nourish friendships, and friendships fade. No matter the length of our encounter with others or with organizations, we leave some kind of imprint. The thing is this, people will only know of us what we reveal. If we want to be known as a leader, we need to reveal ourselves as such. We need to signal boost, taking actions that highlight our leadership. This may mean taking on a new title, or simply using our voice at the right time in the right way so others have the opportunity to notice us through a leadership lens.
If we wish to be known as brave, we need to demonstrate, signal boost, our bravery. Being brave inside our own minds doesn’t translate to bravery in the minds of others who can’t see it. Bravery doesn’t have to mean skydiving or starting a new business. It can mean repeated acts of integrity. It can mean speaking truth to power. It can mean challenging thinking that is hurtful to others. It can mean living with honour, not worrying about whether our actions will receive signal boosts from others.
If we wish to be known as a lover of music, we might consider making more room in our life for music. We might need to take out our earbuds, perhaps attend live music events or join with others to make music. If we wish to be known for our kindness, we can practice acts of kindness. The same goes for having a sense of humour, for being spontaneous, generous, creative and inventive. If we want to be known for our love of nature, perhaps we need to stand in it.
Whatever this thing is inside us, this thing we want to be known for, this thing we want to leave behind as part of the memory of us, this impact we want to have, it’s time to give it a signal boost. Not for bragging rights, not to shine a spotlight on us, but in order for us to live, out loud, the life we are quietly imagining.
Do something drip this week. Something that will have others remark, sheesh! Signal boost some part of your life you’ve let lie dormant too long. Make others say, upon seeing this part of you, ‘I was shook!’.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘What part of my life needs signal boosting?’
Elizabeth is a certified professional Leadership Coach, and the owner of Critchley Coaching. She is the founder and president of the Canadian charity, RDL Building Hope Society. She works with corporations, non-profits and the public sector, providing leadership coaching. She creates and facilitates custom workshops for all sizes of groups and has expertise in facilitating Strategic Plans for organizations. Contact Elizabeth to learn how to signal boost.
Glossary
Bet: I agree, good news!
Salty: Being upset over something little
Sus: Giving the impression that something is suspicious.
Cap: Another word for lying.
Extra: Being over the top, excessive; dramatic behaviour.
Drip: When something is very cool.
Sheesh: An expression for when you are impressed or amazed by something
Shook: Being shocked or surprised. When you can’t believe what you are seeing.
RSS Feed