Brag Sheet: The Art of Selling Yourself
Brag Sheet — your ultimate toolkit for highlighting your achievements and showcasing your skills effectively, from negotiating salaries to advocating for promotions.
Amplify Your Achievements
Ever felt like your accomplishments in your career are slipping through the cracks of memory?
Enter the Brag Sheet, your ultimate toolkit for highlighting your achievements and showcasing your skills effectively.
Think of it as your personal highlight reel.
But instead of gathering dust on a shelf, it’s primed and ready to showcase your value to potential employers, ace interviews, and navigate those nerve-wracking performance reviews with ease.
Moreover, your brag sheet isn’t just a document of past accomplishments — it’s a powerful tool that can directly impact your worth within the company.
From negotiating salaries to advocating for promotions, the contents of your brag sheet can play a pivotal role in determining your earning potential and career trajectory.
Why It’s Important:
Picture this: you’re in an interview, and the dreaded question pops up, “Tell me about yourself.”
Instead of fumbling for words, your brag sheet swoops in to save the day.
By consciously tracking your achievements, you’re not only building a habit but also creating a reservoir of confidence-boosting evidence to draw from when it matters most.
Plus, it’s a surefire way to keep your motivation fires burning bright, reminding you of just how far you’ve come and propelling you toward even greater success.
Best Practices:
1. Don’t just add BIG milestones:
Sure, landing that dream project or snagging a promotion are monumental wins, but don’t overlook the power of celebrating the small stuff.
Tracking everyday victories can fuel your motivation and keep you engaged, turning mundane tasks into meaningful progress.
2. Do this regularly:
Fight the urge to let your achievements fade into the background noise of daily life.
Set aside dedicated time to update your brag sheet regularly, whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
This not only keeps your accomplishments fresh in your mind but also guards against the sneaky tendency to move the goalposts whenever you hit a milestone.
3. Share with colleagues:
Don’t be shy about tooting your own horn.
Sharing your successes with colleagues not only fosters a culture of celebration but also helps combat imposter syndrome and boost confidence.
Whether it’s a quick shout-out in a meeting or a casual chat by the water cooler, don’t underestimate the power of public recognition.
4. Reward and celebrate:
Why stop at just documenting your wins when you can celebrate them?
Incorporate rewards into your brag sheet to mark your achievements and reinforce positive behavior.
Whether it’s treating yourself to a fancy coffee or indulging in a well-deserved break, celebrating your successes can fuel your motivation for the long haul.
Summary:
In a nutshell, your brag sheet is more than just a laundry list of accomplishments — it’s a dynamic tool that serves as a database of your proudest moments, a source of reflection for negotiations and goal-setting, and a potent antidote to imposter syndrome.
So, how often should you update it? Well, that’s up to you.
Experiment with different cadences — whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly — and find what works best for you.
After all, building a habit of keeping score of your career wins is a surefire way to impress your future employer.
Good luck! 🍀
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Hey 👋 I’m Chris, the Founder of UX Playbook.
Here’s more about me:
👨🏫 I’m a Ex-Head of Design, with 10 years of experience in tech, building products & teams
🦄 I worked with Fortune 100s like Google, Nike, Coca Cola, 21st Century Fox, and startup unicorns
👨👩👧👦 I’ve built a community of over 62,000 designers
🤝 I’ve supported over 11,000 designers with my free UX resources, blog posts, and mentorship
🚀 I’ve been the founding designer for 8 startups
💸 I previously grew my own freelance one-person UX consultancy to $26,000/month then burnt out
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