One of the biggest challenges many professionals constantly face is communicating their skills with other people. Be it their current employer, audience, or potential client.
So how do you prove you actually know what you know? And how do you showcase your past accomplishments? Wouldn’t it be great to have your past successes available whenever you need them? Whether it’s for a resume, an interview, a speech, or a project pitch.
A common mistake made by many high performers is not keeping a track record of the things they’ve done—especially projects that have been successful. They have done a lot. But when it comes the time to showcase them, they struggle to gather what’s needed to make up a great story.
Collect props and reviews in a Brag Folder
A simple solution to that is to create what is known as the Brag Folder. Create a new folder on your desktop and name it Brag Folder.
Whenever someone sends you a prop, a compliment, or a positive note on how you or your work helped them, take a screenshot and drop it into the Brag Folder. That’s it. Over time, you will have an endless supply of reviews and testimonials available to you when you need them.
- Need a recommendation for a new job application? Now you know who to ask it from.
- Need testimonials for a new sales page? Reach out to past customers who have said good words about your work.
- Need a morale boost to keep working on your business? Open the Brag Folder to find out why you started what you do in the first place.
Keep track of your best work using a Brag Doc
Another version of the Brag Folder is the Brag Document—or as I call it—the Brag Doc.
Create a new doc. It could be a Google Doc, a Notion page, or a text file. Start with a date or a date range—and describe what you’ve done and accomplished. For example:
Q2 2022 - I migrated our blog from WordPress to Webflow and redesigned it from scratch on the new platform. As a result, we saved $X per month from WordPress themes and plugins, improved page speed by 300%, and made site development more accessible to the team.
The trick is to keep it simple and focus on what you’ve done and the results that it brings. Over time, you will have a track record of what you did, and did well. The Brag Doc is particularly helpful for interviews, speeches, or any occasion you need to share a story about your past work.
Not only the Brag Folder and Doc are useful in showcasing your work, but they are also great habits to practice small wins, reflect on how far you’ve come, and build confidence and agency in yourself.
