Showing off has been defined as pretentiousness, exaggeration, posturing, bragging, inflated self-importance, arrogance, bigheadedness, pride, conceit, being full of yourself, immodesty, being vain, haughty and overweening. Overweening? My goodness! Who, in their right mind, would want to be thought of as overweening? The shame! The horror!

Those definitions are all misguided interpretations of what is, in fact, the most noble of pursuits. Showing off is completely misunderstood. It's gotten a very bad rap. What the world needs is not less showing off, but more. If you're not showing off, then what's the point? If you're not showing off then why even show up? Why go to work? Why play the game?

Showing off, as I define it, which I can, because this is my book, is a good thing. Showing off is about bringing the best you have to any situation. It's about excellence and exceeding expectations. Showing off is about the joy, jazz, and kick of being better tomorrow than you were today. Showing off is an attitude that says, when presented with a problem or challenge, "Watch this."

Grand Stupidity and Absurd Bravery

Some say that the advantage of experience is in knowing what works. But the great disadvantage of experience is the loss of the grand stupidity and absurd bravery that comes with not knowing what works. Because when you don't know what works, you'll try anything. You'll be too ignorant to play it safe. You'll be ridiculous and audacious. You'll discover all the new things that work. And you'll have all the fun.

The Gold Standard

You can count on me. You can believe in me. If I say I'll do something, I'll do it. Put it in the bank. Bet the farm on it. It doesn't matter whether or not I'm in a good mood, have a headache, forgot to pick up my clothes from the cleaners, had a fight with my daughter, lost my keys, or didn't sleep last night. If I said I'll do it then I'll do it. What's more, I'll do it every time.

If you can say all of that, and back it up, that's more than showing off. That's delivering the goods. That's the gold standard. If you consistently do what you say you'll do over a long period of time, the world will beat a path to your door. Nothing demonstrates the essence of showing off, in the most positive sense of the phrase, than rock solid consistency. There's an old saying that goes, "Amateurs work until they get it right. Professionals work until they can't get it wrong."

Think of someone you know or work with who is completely dependable. This is the person who, when given an assignment, simply carries it out, correctly and on time, every time. Giving them a job to do is like pulling the trigger on the starter's gun. You point them at a task and it is completed. You give them the tough assignment and you can forget about it, knowing that it's taken care of. How much value does that person bring to the table? It's as good as it gets.

We love people who do what they say they will do. Consistency is the foundation of success. Consistency is the great business builder. Consistency is the definition of integrity. If that's showing off, then count me as someone who aspires to show off for as long as I live.

The Enemy of Future Success

Maybe your life has worked pretty well to this point. You've made a go of it with your career and things are rolling along pretty well. But you want more. You want to take your job or your business or some other aspect of your life to the next level. But you just can't seem to get any upward momentum going.

Here's your obstacle: if you are successful, then you know what used to work. The key word is "used" to work. Past tense. Gone. Over and done with. Obsolete. Outdated. Useless. In the way.

Past success is possibly the most challenging obstacle to your ability to move your life to the next level. You have succeeded by doing things a certain way. Why should you possibly let go of what has worked for you up to now? Because past success can be, and usually is, the enemy of future success.

My business has been very successful. I am blessed beyond reason. And I'm good at what I do. But for me to take my business to the next level of success and accomplishment, I have to be willing to let go of what got me to this point. It's been said that success makes obsolete the very behaviors that created it. Success creates a new reality and with it comes a new set of rules and challenges.

I hate hearing that. I hate it because it means that I have to think about letting go of what I'm good at, comfortable with, and used to. It means that I have to change even though things aren't really all that bad just as they are. I hate it. So I start to tell myself how really great I am at what I do. I've conquered the markets that I compete in and why the heck should I change what works?

On days that I find myself feeling just a little too cocky, I always try to remember this simple truth: I can compete and win in markets that no longer exist. They're gone. They're over. Today is a new day with new rules and new realities and I have to figure out how to win today, not yesterday.