In the world of today, a lot of people feel the need to constantly display their plans, their achievements, and even their ambitions. In fact, with the way social media is going now, everything has become so easy to show on the screen, and people can simply flaunt their lifestyle and all. I am not saying that there is anything wrong in displaying your achievements, but you should not focus on showing off during the building phase of your life. Instead, you can simply wait until there is something meaningful to show before you show it. More often than not, people should not know about the building phase; just allow the success to make the statement for you.
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A friend of mine came to me and told me that she wanted to go into fashion business. So I advised her to learn about it. So she spent a couple of months learning tailoring, learning new styles and customers' preferences. She did not go to seek validation from others and did not post on social media about becoming a successful entrepreneur, while she was also coupling money for her business. She was dedicated to learning about her business. When she was done, she launched her business with the experience she had gathered over time. Her excellent work attracted customers to her. This was because she was committed to building, instead of just showing off what she did not have.
On the other hand, while she was busy learning and building, there was another of her friend who wanted to go into the fashion world too, but she was so loud about her own. She would keep posting "life of a fashionista," "about to go into the fashion world," and all manner of things just to show off what she had not even started. She would just post about everything and anything, so much that everyone would know her next moves before she even took them. It was like she was feeding on the attention she got from her social media friends. But when they got tired of that kind of posts from her and the attention started to reduce, the excitement started fading. She realised that she actually has not built much, but was only concerned about showing off.
You need to build first before you show off. By building, I mean developing skills, character, career, relationships, knowledge, goals, etc. Building is actually the work that happens behind the scene, such as learning, preparation, discipline, sacrifices, and persistence. Before a movie is launched for example, there are lots of work that have been done. What you see on the screen for about 2 hours or so is not the whole thing, but a lot of months may have been used to create it. In the same way, there are things that should happen in the background that should give you the achievements you need. Imagine someone showing off the result that they do not even have at hand. Like someone going for a job interview and posting that they have the job already, when they are not even sure they have met the requirements.
One of the reasons why building should come first is that real success will require a very solid and strong foundation. Just as a house must need a solid foundation to be able to stand. As a matter of fact, no matter how beautiful a house may look on paper, you have to build the foundation first before it can stand. This principle is not just applicable in houses, but also in life. Success demands that you will take out time to build and prepare for it, not flaunting what you do not have yet.
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Building first before showing off will also encourage humility. When you are humble, you will understand the process of growth better. More so, it will also help you to avoid distractions that come with the constant quest for public validation. The truth is that the people who often seek to show off for the sake of public validation hardly have time to take a reflection about their own lives and where to improve on. It is worthy to note that real growth does not happen in public view, but it often happens quietly through constant and consistent work.
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