A Note on Self Deprecation

Recently a co-worker who never had the pleasure of working with me approached me with a concern. He wanted to point out that I'm very self deprecating and wasn't sure if I knew it. To this, I could only respond, "No shit Sherlock. Even I could have figured this one out."

So for all of you who don't know me well enough to get my "style", here is a little run down:

I am awesome - in all senses of the word. I am probably one of the cockiest people you have ever met, and have many reasons to be, but really hate when people come across as cocky. For that reason, I had tried to tone down my feelings of superiority over pretty much everyone in the past, but usually still ended up sounding like a complete jerk.

Being that I rather enjoy letting people into my awesome little world, I decided to take a different approach several years ago. Instead of being a cocky prick in public (I still often am around friends and family), I decided to take a different approach - self deprecation.

Self deprecation is easy. Simply ignore everything that makes you great (which with me are myriad) and blow the little flaws out of proportion. For example, if you have a failed one night stand, don't hide in shame. Instead, shout it for the world to enjoy. Hell, even embellish upon it a bit. Just make sure you look like the dumbass at all times when retelling the story.

Maybe you are great at what you do, but make a mistake every now and then. Why rub your greatness in a co-worker's face? Instead, just point out that you like to slack off on occasion. Or maybe mention that you don't work the long hours they do. Of course, you need to conveniently leave out that you can accomplish in 6 hours what takes them two days, because why make enemies?

My point is this - I have a style. It works for me. If you think I'm a sad person, ask people that know me much better. If it still bothers you, I'll be happy to break out the cocky ass that lives deep inside me. I promise you'll be asking for the self deprecating guy back very quickly.