Humblebragging: examples & uses

#11 · August 8, 2021, 3:23 pm

Hey Lucio,

Great post on tony robbins.

Even though he is a great communicator and has brought a lot to the positive thinking industry, I still see him as somewhat of a manipulator.

Especially when you go to his live events.. that's some solid manipulation there.

But let us take what's awesome about Tony and learn how to deal with the less cool humble bragging.

If you were the interviewer how would you have handled his humble bragging ?

Here's how I would :

Robbins: That's really a good answer, but I've been with you for 4h, I wanna know the moment. What's the moment

Interviewer : love how you contradicted him there man, you were like ' you've no idea what you're talking about Mik'

This would work, in my opinion for sarcasm would signal to tony that you are no naive boy and u recognize the games he plays.

More specicically, this would work for you'd be exaggerrating the frame and make it look as if tony bossed around his little brother 'mik', which of course cannot be the case.

What's your take on handling humble bragging with this exaggerated frame/ sarcasm style ?

#12 · March 8, 2022, 3:39 pm

Quote from Ali Scarlett on March 8, 2022, 3:39 pm
Another example:

https://youtu.be/AwBjx2kuAos?t=2879

[Talking about fake entrepreneurs and get rich quick scammers, they start to talk about Tai Lopez.]

Jason Calacanis: "Who is taking a video of themselves in a garage? I have the number one Tesla Model X ever made. Serial number one. In my garage."

Coffeezilla: "You do?"

Jason Calacanis: "Yes, Elon is a friend of mine, I was the first person to order it, we've been friends for 20 years, I literally have the first Tesla."

Coffeezilla: "Jesus Christ."

Jason Calacanis: "And I've mentioned it on interviews, but I'm not taking a video like this, like, 'Hi, I'm Tai Lopez, look,' and 'I have the 16th Roadster...'"

Calacanis does this a few times throughout the video, mentioning he knows Steve Wozniak (the co-founder of Apple) and "has so much money he doesn't need to take money from people (and that if these gurus had as much money as they claim to, they wouldn't need to charge for their courses)".

I think that Calacanis does this technique of embedding his brags into stories pretty well.

But, I also noticed that he does it a little too consciously sometimes. Almost as if he knows he's bragging and is OK with bragging to get his point across, rather than taking the approach of knowing you're bragging and framing it as a minor detail necessary to understand the story (which is a much smoother way to go, in my opinion).

P.S.:

I think it's OK to know when you're bragging. It can be a sign of social and power-awareness of when you might be social climbing (whether intentionally or not).

However, to be OK with bragging in order to get your point across can sub-communicate to others that any time you have a point, you're going to use it as an opportunity to social climb. And, that can easily become this, "OK, here he goes again," moment of people simply waiting for the part of your story where you talk about yourself (again).

That's why I'm a bigger fan of making the brags quick and making them feel necessary to the story (so it's less about you and your ego or status).

*Note: Feel free to disagree with this post and let me know if it's in the wrong section.

Another example:

[Talking about fake entrepreneurs and get rich quick scammers, they start to talk about Tai Lopez.]

Jason Calacanis: "Who is taking a video of themselves in a garage? I have the number one Tesla Model X ever made. Serial number one. In my garage."

Coffeezilla: "You do?"

Jason Calacanis: "Yes, Elon is a friend of mine, I was the first person to order it, we've been friends for 20 years, I literally have the first Tesla."

Coffeezilla: "Jesus Christ."

Jason Calacanis: "And I've mentioned it on interviews, but I'm not taking a video like this, like, 'Hi, I'm Tai Lopez, look,' and 'I have the 16th Roadster...'"

Calacanis does this a few times throughout the video, mentioning he knows Steve Wozniak (the co-founder of Apple) and "has so much money he doesn't need to take money from people (and that if these gurus had as much money as they claim to, they wouldn't need to charge for their courses)".

I think that Calacanis does this technique of embedding his brags into stories pretty well.

But, I also noticed that he does it a little too consciously sometimes. Almost as if he knows he's bragging and is OK with bragging to get his point across, rather than taking the approach of knowing you're bragging and framing it as a minor detail necessary to understand the story (which is a much smoother way to go, in my opinion).

P.S.:

I think it's OK to know when you're bragging. It can be a sign of social and power-awareness of when you might be social climbing (whether intentionally or not).

However, to be OK with bragging in order to get your point across can sub-communicate to others that any time you have a point, you're going to use it as an opportunity to social climb. And, that can easily become this, "OK, here he goes again," moment of people simply waiting for the part of your story where you talk about yourself (again).

That's why I'm a bigger fan of making the brags quick and making them feel necessary to the story (so it's less about you and your ego or status).

*Note: Feel free to disagree with this post and let me know if it's in the wrong section.

#13 · March 8, 2022, 9:22 pm

Mandatory post to pitch my friend Jack Kinsella's... (see what I did there? What type of brag is that one? : ) )

The Best Article Ever Written About Bragging"

https://www.lesspenguiny.com/articles/best-article-on-bragging?curator=nodesk.co

Which shows us that there's other 16 ways of bragging to complement the humblebrag.

I'm reading a part of PU where Lucio uses "The BragFM Brag" (talking outloud on a fake phone call so that a boss nearby can hear him killing it. 🙂

Ali Scarlett has reacted to this post.

#14 · March 12, 2022, 5:28 pm

Quote from Ali Scarlett on March 8, 2022, 3:39 pm

Another example:

[Talking about fake entrepreneurs and get rich quick scammers, they start to talk about Tai Lopez.]

Jason Calacanis: "Who is taking a video of themselves in a garage? I have the number one Tesla Model X ever made. Serial number one. In my garage."

Coffeezilla: "You do?"

Jason Calacanis: "Yes, Elon is a friend of mine, I was the first person to order it, we've been friends for 20 years, I literally have the first Tesla."

I'm not sure I'd call that "humble bragging" as it's quite direct.

The transition is also fast, there is little bridging and not enough "cover" to weave it into a story or make it seem like it was necessary to tell to make another point.

But personally, I probably prefer a honest and direct statement that might be labeled as "bragging" to the more "astute" humble one, which reeks more of manipulation and "taking you for a ride".

Ali Scarlett has reacted to this post.

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