My reputation

“So, you’re saying we could move this number from 3.5% to 11%?” my director brushed her hair out of her face, staring at my computer screen.

“How can we do it?” she turned her eyes upon my face, ready to hear what I’ve been trying to say for 2 months.

Five months ago when she came on board to the account I was simply another agent. My polite comments were brushed aside. The many suggestions I made at the onset were hardly even heard. After working with me, she has come to learn my reputation.

My reputation is something I’ve never cared about. I don’t control it. I can’t predict how people will view me.

A while back a co-worker accused me of gossiping about her. My jaw dropped. I nearly busted out laughing it seemed too ridiculous to me. Instead I pulled myself together and apologize profusely. What does it matter if she thinks I’m a gossip? The people who matter, who know me, they know the truth. If she needed my apology to help her go on, I’ll give it to her. She can say what ever she wants about me. She can tarnish my reputation as much as she needs to. Because people for the most part figure out the truth. And those who never figure out the truth, well, they were never going to figure it out in the first place.

Instead of worrying about what people think of me, I do what is right. I bury my head deep in my work.

By not worrying about what people think of me, I’ve made a reputation of being knowledgeable, dedicated, and very dependable. Didn’t do it by talking about myself. Didn’t do it by defending my actions and myself.

Did it by apologizing for every toe I step on. Did it by not complaining. Did it by working hard even when other people weren’t looking.

My reputation is not my own. The only thing I can control is how hard I work, and how I treat people.