Stop Putting Yourself On Sale

There's definitely been a time where you've stayed late to finish work.
 
Maybe you stayed 30 minutes.
1 hour.
2 hours.
How about 3 hours?
 
My friend and I were catching up about the time she stayed 3 whole hours behind at work.
 
That's 180 minutes. 
 
Enough time to watch The Lion King… twice.
 
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Both of us have experienced burn out at work for this exact reason - wanting to go above and beyond, not having clear boundaries, not knowing how to say no and walk away at work.
 
We weren't staying behind to finish off urgent projects. They could've waited until the next day.
 
But we lost the inner conflict that is choosing between our wellbeing vs making others happy.
 
And then it hit me … back then we were putting ourselves on sale.
 
Putting yourself on sale looks like:
 
  1. Staying late at work/helping out for free hoping you’ll get noticed
  2. Ignoring your feelings to make other people happy
  3. Wanting to speak up but silencing yourself
  4. Believing you don’t deserve any better
  5. Staying silent to keep the peace
  6. Numbing how you actually feel
  7. Settling for less
 
In a store, an item is on sale because they literally want to get rid of it.
 
 
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Maybe they have too much stock or they’re not making enough sales.
 
The store doesn't trust that the dress will sell for $40, so they make it 50% off hoping they'll get the outcome they want… a sale.
 
The outcome we want… is to feel good about ourselves, and along the way, make other people happy - the problem comes when 'making others' happy' becomes the primary outcome. That's when we put ourselves on sale.
 
So, that begs the question how to do we stop putting yourself on sale.
 
You already know what I’m going to say don’t you…
 
Know 👏 Your 👏 Worth
 
A store doesn’t need to put a $40 dress on sale if it knows people will be it for $40.
 
It only goes on sale to $20, when they think ‘no one will buy it at this price’.
 
(That's your equivalent of 'I have to stay late, otherwise people will think I'm lazy, incompetent, behind… and ultimately not good enough')
 
 
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We put ourselves on sale when we don't feel good enough.
 
If the store is placed in the right location, targeting the right people at the right time. The dress may never have to go on sale. Because it’s positioned in front of people will buy it at that price.
 
If you’re putting yourself on sale it’s because of 2 reasons:
 
  1. You’re around people who can’t afford you
  2. You don’t see the value in yourself
 
Tough love. I know.
 
Knowing your worth looks like:
 
  1. Walking away from situations that don’t serve you
  2. Communicating your boundaries and preferences
  3. Saying no without a long explanation
  4. Walking away from mistreatment
  5. Speaking up about how you feel
  6. Standing up for yourself
  7. Choosing yourself
 
Now I’m curious, are you putting yourself on sale?
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