This recently happened to me…

After 48 years, I know myself pretty well. I also know very little about me is going to change despite the ‘Old Dogs New Tricks’ theory. I also know something else about me – I like all of who I am. And then…it happened.

Someone who doesn’t know me decided they didn’t like how I spoke online. Context: I used a meme with curse words on Instagram. I responded to someone on Twitter in sarcasm using the F word. It was brought to my attention that I shouldn’t be using those words because clients could see them and it would reflect poorly. I apologized, removed the meme and the tweet and was annoyed in my soul for weeks later about it.

“I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam.” – Popeye, the sailor man

I literally changed who I was on Twitter and Instagram for one person. Let that sink in – FOR. ONE. PERSON.

I have almost 8,000 followers on Twitter. I have that many connections on LinkedIn. I run a very successful networking group with thousands of members on Facebook. And this one comment ended up making me second-think every tweet (“Is this appropriate?”) and I pretty much stopped posting memes on Instagram (“Will this offend someone?”) and guess what?

I stopped being Sheryl (…the one with thousands of followers and connections.)

“Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one but they think each others stink.” – Simone Elkeles

It made me realize I have a personal philosophy that I live by – and when I show up as THAT person every day, it attracts the people I should be connected to and deflects those who aren’t my tribe. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help them if they want it, either. It means who I am as a human just isn’t for them and THAT IS OK.

You should be doing the same thing, too. And, it counts even more with our online presence!

So my personal philosophy means I must know – –

What values drives my actions:

• Loyalty.
• Commitment.
• Open-mindedness.
• Honesty.

How do you want to live your life?

• I want to live my life working with fun financial service professionals and be an advocate for women working in this community to recruit, train, advance, and retain feminine energy in our profession.

BE A PERSON OF ACTION: To quote Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And that is WHO you connect with and you do that through having a personal philosophy you live by each day.