Tameka AndersonBehavior Coach | Creator of the THRIVE™ Framework & CALM Method™ at Cultivate Potential Strategies

This is Why We Downplay Our Success ❤️‍🩹 #trauma #impostersyndrome

10 Mar 2025 · 1 min

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1:03

In this motivational monologue, the speaker outlines five common sources that cause people to downplay their achievements: family expectations at home, discouraging messages from school teachers, jealousy and competition among peers, workplace pressure to constantly do more, and the pressure to conform within one's social circle. She shares a personal anecdote about a third‑grade teacher who told her to stop talking, illustrating early conditioning to silence one's voice. A Kendrick Lamar lyric is invoked to underscore the emotional weight of these influences. The core advice is to consciously reduce time spent with people, places, and things that make you shrink, even if it means distancing from close family members, in order to reclaim authenticity and celebrate success.

Chapters

Raise your hand if you've ever downplayed your success. I'm gonna discuss five reasons why we do this and how to stop doing it. Number one, home. Somebody in or around your house told you you were doing too much. Number two, school. I was in third grade. Mrs. Filibuster was like, "Oh, Tamika would be so great if she just stopped talking." So at school, now they're telling you you need to stop being so much. Number three, peers. Instead of your friends being excited that you are an awesome person, they want to be jealous of you. So now you're thinking that oh, being Myself is not good. Number 4, work. Work more, do more, we're gonna replace you. Number 5, your circle. In your circle, be just alike, and if not, you're not in this circle. We have learned how not to be ourselves, but we ain't gonna blame people because like the words of this famous man right here, coward do that and that ain't you. So what are we gonna do? We are going to spend less time with people, places, and things that cause us to shrink who we are. Well, what if it's my mama? In the words of great Kendrick Lamar, I'll cut my grandma off if she don't see how I see it.