Women 'Take Up Space' - Post something you're good at without putting yourself down.

[JeanneDeMontbaston]

I saw this on twitter recently: you tweet something you're damn good at, without apologising or getting into false modesty.

I was feeling a bit down today reading all the threads about how feminism is too this or too that, too academic or too humourless or not good enough at explaining itself - and I thought maybe it'd be good to have a more positive thread.

Rules: if you post a non-serious 'I'm so good at eating my bodyweight in stale Easter Eggs/procrastinating on MN' type thing, this counts as false modesty and you need to post something else too!

I'll start - I'm a really good teacher.

I may have to revise my assertation that I'm a whizz at parallel parking after this evening's efforts.

I am mostly a whizz at parallel parking.

meandjulio

Hah, thanks! It made me laugh but your post did also make me think. My intial thought was "never", because I feel things quite deeply and would probably find being a politician deeply frustrating / upsetting at times - but maybe that's necessary to doing it well. But that said I have considered civil service type roles as a potential career option, and I do seem to have drifted into various roles representing my peers at various points in my life. Hmm. Maybe one day!

I am excellent at people management. Really good! Everyone who's worked for me who wasn't an underperformer has been promoted within 12 months and credited me with that. Every underperformer has been performing or started formal processes in under 3 months.

I'm very good at being organised, determined and am fiercely loyal and loving.

I'm good at music and baking and making a home.

I'm good at being happy.

This is an excellent idea!

I can write anything.

I'm a ghost writer just now and I can turn anything into a book.

I've never had a book turned down, they've all been bought by major publishers and I know I make a difference to people's lives by giving them some control back over their own stories.

EBearhug no takes-backsies! Even the world's greatest can have an off day!

I'm an awesome driver and map reader.
I'm very quick at getting 'the point' of an argument or statement (ie cutting through the waffle)
I make fuck off amazing cakes and scones
If you want a pottery dragon or unicorn, I'm your woman
I'm a good actress, occasionally a great one
I'm a fantastic director
I'm good at dressage
I am a goddess of trivial pursuit
I have an almost eidetic memory for comedy sketches
I throw amazing parties :o

What a great thread - so liberating!

I am very good at my job. I am passionate about the work I do. I have spoken internationally and published book on my profession. I want to do a PhD in the subject of this professional role - if only I could find £10k.....any offers?!

I can write well - both academically and 'for fun'

I am a good wife, a fierce mum and a daughter who will not be manipulated by my mother (I count this as a skill )

I can make bloody good cakes.

There. I said it all...!

I have very ordered thoughts and clearly defined parameters which I apply to ethical issues and am therefore an excellent sounding board for colleagues.

I am great at making special birthday cakes for my kids.

I'm also good at having babies, middle child was 9 pound 2, at home, no gas and air. No caveats about how it's okay if you had an epidural. :-)

Also I am very good at spelling and grammar.

Oh I've just spotted someone else's and have to add, I am also great at parallel parking. DH will actually get out and swap with me if he is driving and we have to park. Also I have parked friends' cars for them on occasion.

I'm a fantastic listener.
I'm a good mom.
I have a fantastic built in, bull shit detector
:)

I am good at listening.

I am ruddy fantastic at baking and decorating cakes.

I am a good driver and parallel park in london with ease.

I'm a damn good mum.

I'm absolutely brilliant at eating stuff I shouldn't too!!!

I write great stories that make people laugh. If parents read my stories to their kids and both of them crack up, I've done my job. This usually happens, and I'm pleased.

I'm extremely good at cross-examining people and solving abstract problems.

This is such a lovely thread that I've been enjoying over a few days. I've never felt brave enough to post on the Feminism board, but here goes:

I am also clever.
I can write damn good academic essays
I can understand very compilacted psychoanalytical theories and apply them to real people and situations
I am able to be alongside people who are in extreme distress / people contemplating suicide without falling apart myself
I am good at teaching myself new skills - Playing musical instruments, using a sewing machine.
I am good at being by myself
I am improving every day at being a good enough mum, something I never thought I could do.

I am really good at not boasting about what I am really good at!

I actually see this as a cultural thing as well - as it is not 'done' to blow ones own trumpet y'know.

So - I am an excellent reader, digest facts and information quickly and am pretty good at seeing through bullshit. Also pretty good at coming up with bullshit when required...

Really enjoying these.

I am good at listening, then feeding back in a way that helps people understand their situation better.

I am very good at my job (writing, proofreading, admin).

I am good at knowing what time I will arrive at places.

I am a good, welcoming host.

I am a good parent.

I am good at rhyming and at making up comic songs on the hoof to amuse my children.

I am really good at brushing my teeth.

I love this thread - so many inspiring skills and abilities.

I am very organised. I can plan long-range projects, stage by stage, without being phased by the size of the task.

I love learning new things (e.g. sewing, dancing, parallel parking) and developing new skills.

I am honest with myself about things I need to work on, and so constantly try to do better.

I am a very good mum (so hard not to caveat that one). I do a good job of trying to understand my DCs' perspectives, and can joke them out of tantrums with absurd flights of fancy.

I am very good at my job - particularly in giving constructive feedback to others.

Wow - it's weird, and liberating, to write all that down.

I make delicious cakes
I am excellent at giving perfect gifts
I am a good singer
I have a brilliant memory for names, odd facts and dates, and can visualise colours perfectly for matching
I am a very good skim reader
I can always accurately guess the time - more useful than you'd think!

Brilliant thread and so lovely to read through them

I'm a really good swimming teacher and also swimming teacher tutor. I loved my job so much and I passed that love on to my students.

I'm really good at giving empathy

I'm a good parent and my love for my kids radiates off me in waves.

Oh and I'm brilliant at essay writing, especially working out what the question is really asking. I was once told by my English teacher that I "thought like a man and didn't get distracted with waffle"

I write excellent books that people around the world buy and read.

I write excellent scripts that production companies have bought and made.

I am a good teacher in my subject. Oxbridge recruited me, I didn't apply to them. And since I've been there, they have offered me more and more responsibilities.

Maths
Spatial reasoning (so I'm a whizz at dress making/design and general relativity ).
Singing
Being friends
Writing stories that make people laugh

God this is good to do. A bit like in interviews when you name your good points and have to be all coy about it and say something non-threatening and un-egotistical like 'I'm great at organising stuff'....

I am funny, clever, great at general knowledge as I have a good memory for trivial facts, I'm empathetic. And it turns out that, in the face of DH's continuing mental health issues, I am extremely optimistic, hopeful and very good at holding the family together in the face of quite a massive shit storm that's been going on for years and years. So I should probably add that I clearly have a massive amount of patience.

I can also guess the time NeverNic! As can my Mum.

I'm now, after three years of insomnia, very good at falling asleep (worth its weight in gold)