Stop using these 16 terms to describe yourself

To all the incredibly passionate, creative, dynamic gurus and the profoundly unique, world-class, results-oriented serial entrepreneurs: Knock it off. It’s like giving yourself a nickname.

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Picture this: You meet someone new.

“What do you do?” she asks.

“I’m an architect,” you say.

“Oh, really?” she answers. “Have you designed any buildings I’ve seen?”

“Possibly,” you reply. “We did the new student center at the university.”

“Oh, wow,” she says. “That’s a beautiful building.”

Without trying—without blowing your own horn—you’ve made a great impression.

Now picture this: You meet someone new.

“What do you do?” he asks.

“I’m a passionate, innovative, dynamic provider of architectural services with a collaborative approach to creating and delivering outstanding world-class client and user experiences.”

All righty, then.

Do you describe yourself differently—on your website, promotional materials, or especially on social media—from the way you do in person? Do you use cheesy clichés, overblown superlatives, and breathless adjectives?

Do you write things about yourself that you’d never have the nerve to say out loud?

Here are some words that are great when other people use them to describe you but which you should never use to describe yourself:

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