Shameless Self Promotion - Do we have a choice?

Scene 1: The camera zooms into my living room. Scrambled toys, a swing and an open shelf greets the viewer. Zoom out, pan and scan the hall. More scattered toys, and a a pair of kids shoes. The viewer is now sure that there are at least a couple of kids in this living space. Ah, finally, there is a shot of a room with some light. Wait, is that me sitting in front of my computer? Yes, it's me alright. Zoom in to the computer display - The words that are displayed in the computer monitor are clear now. It reads - "2008 Performance Objectives, Goals and Results".

There is a reason for the screenplay-style writing above. As I was writing the performance review for the past year, that's exactly what it felt like - a screenplay. I was trying to write the whole story of what happened at my job over the past year so I could prove to my manager that I am a keeper. So I penned it with care - my bread winning capability depended on this not being a tragedy, musical or a comedy. The story line needed to be inspiring, touching and "feel good" at the same time. Like "SlumDog Millionaire" - the target audience (in this case my manager) should feel that I have worked hard in difficult conditions and that I deserve more, and more often.

Now the mind wanderer that I am, I started thinking. Can we get by without marketing ourselves these days? Marketing oneself aggressively for the right job is a given, but what about other venues? On digging that thought-mine deeper, I realized that we end up doing it more often than not.

For a good insurance premium, we tout our sans accident driving record, years of driving experience and clean driving habits. For a good life insurance policy, we even praise our genetics - "no heart attacks on my mom's or dad's side - Alzheimer's maybe, but that was my uncle - Moreover, I don't keep touch with him that much anyway". When your kids complain that you never get them this or that or that you never take them out, your inner salesperson wakes up from deep slumber and fires back - "What about the days we went out to the park and I got you Cheetos and all that popcorn? Remember when I took you the cinema and you cried for Ice Cream? I even bought you two. Remember?" When your significant other notices that you are not romantic as you used to be, you immediately put on your mental suit and tie and the sales pitch starts - "Oh so the diamond means nothing to you now? What about our trip to Hawaii? And the flowers I bought for our anniversary- Your appreciation did not even last much as the roses did, Honey!" Bravo , you finely tuned selling machines, Bravo!

In the era of increasing "Me First" mentality, people who take notice of good actions, intentions and hard work are few and far between. If anyone had doubts about Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest", now is the time to look around and see proof of it. Success is no longer measured in goodwill, but on how much you can afford to donate at GoodWill (the store). The world is increasingly being transformed into a multitude of ladders and each one of us have multiple ones to climb - in pursuit of prized possessions, stable relationships and towering finances. The yardsticks used for measuring a country's well being are the Dow and Nasdaq, not the quality of life being lived by its people.

So the world leaves us with no choice but to market ourselves as good worker bees, good parents, great lovers and loving sons and daughters. However, I don't remember the last time I had to market my ability to be a good human being; a person whose policy is "Live and let Live". I guess that would be up to the orphans, the homeless and all the charity institutions that serve the greater good. They have to pitch to me, the greedy and self indulgent common man, as to why they are in dire need of money I have saved to help me climb the selfish ladders of life. Benevolence has never been a great asset to market anyway.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that when it came to this blog, I did have a choice in not indulging in shameless self promotion. I went along with it anyway and judging by the traffic to my site, it looks like I would have to fire the salesperson for lack of skill and poise. I know what you are thinking - let me dismiss that thought right away. No, it does not have anything to do with the quality of posts. "Remember that time when you read the awesome post and said it was good? Remember?"