'I got a reputation that I can't deny'

When reality and self awareness meet at the crossroads

Our habits or maybe a singular action can lead to being judged intensely negatively. It might hurt or be painful to feel looked down upon. Maybe we’re even beating ourselves over the head with a stick because, well, we know we created big problems.

Sometimes, uncomfortable or not, painful or not, ego or not, we should admit:

"I got a reputation that I can't deny."

Artist: Post Malone
Song: Reputation

It’s not a situation most anyone likes to be, where past actions and-or current behavior is deemed socially undesirable or unacceptable.

If only we could show the strength of character and courage to promptly and fully confess it inside and then do what is necessary to correct the thinking and behavior errors and make “right” with others, we’d see how our reputation can begin to turn for the better and create momentum towards improvement.

If we’re not in denial, sometimes we see our behavior shortcoming first and confess it, if only to ourselves. Other times, we hope others don’t recognize our errors so we don’t have to additionally suffer.

It’s healthy though, regardless of how it feels emotionally and settles into our psychology, to choose not to deny a poor reputation of ours, especially one with which we are not satisfied with or proud of and are instead, embarrassed.

Embarrassment, believe it or not, can be healthy in some instances and when our reputation is in bad shape, it’s safer to stop, say “I’m not going to deny the facts, evidence and truth — and I’m going to be humble and honest with myself and ‘own’ my current reputation so I can do something wise in response.”

Michael Toebe is the specialist at Reputation Quality, a consulting, advisory and communications company serving and helping successful people and organizations further build their reputation strength and responsibly, ethically protecting, restoring and reconstructing it.