Ranking Revolution

Welcome to the ranking revolution
podcast, your go-to source for strategies

and ideas for SEO, organic growth.

Content creation and online business.

I'm Doug Cuttington I'm your host
today is one of those solo episodes.

It's like a little essay.

Or blog posts that I've
written just for you.

This one.

What sounds dark.

The dark side of your greatest strength.

Sometimes your greatest
strength can be a weakness.

We all have several
strengths and weaknesses.

Of course.

We see our syrinx.

And we forget that they
can take a dark side.

So before I get into the
details of one of my strengths.

Think of your top three strengths.

Pause.

Think of them.

I'll pretend like I'm
pausing here, but you pause.

If you need to.

I'll buy you a minute or two here.

Okay.

Do you have three of them?

Excellent.

I'll go over four little parts here.

So I'll give you an example from
one of my favorite TV shows.

Number two, I'll go through a strength and
why it's been very helpful for me working

for myself and even professionally.

I'll let you know why my strength.

Can be a weakness in
some specific examples.

And for, uh, lastly, What you can
do to help prevent, or at least

reduce the chances of your strength.

Becoming a negative and becoming a
weakness biting you in the ass here.

Okay.

The first thing is an example
from the office, the TV show.

The U S version.

This is a little bit of a detour.

It's one of my favorite shows.

I think I've watched it like
three times through all the way.

And if you're unfamiliar.

This won't land as well, but I think
a lot of people watch this show.

So Michael Scott is the well-meaning,
but clueless manager from the office.

His greatest strength.

Is his deep desire to be liked and to
create a family like atmosphere at work.

Seems mostly good.

Most of the time.

However this trade becomes his downfall.

Leading to inappropriate jokes, misguided
attempts at binding and ultimately a

less than professional work environment.

He created the Dundees.

That's an award ceremony.

The company was Dunder Mifflin.

So Dundee's is kind of a funny take on it.

And he intended to boost morale
with the Dundees, but it often

highlights his complete lack of
awareness and lack of sensitivity.

So Michael gives the spicy
Curry award to Kelly.

Who is Indian and that's a stereotypical
and culturally insensitive joke.

Based on her Indian heritage.

The incident reflects Michael's attempt
to be humorous and inclusive, but actually

shows his ignorance and insensitivity.

Super uncomfortable.

Uh, there are many other jokes
from the Dundees that are.

Even more inappropriate.

So, this is an example where we can
illustrate the fine line with trying to

connect with the employees personally, and
then accidentally being a very offensive.

And it highlights the weakness in what
Michael perceives as his strength.

Let's talk about me, my
favorite subject here.

What am I strengths is that.

I try to figure out a better
way to put this, but it really.

It really captures the
essence of this strength.

To phrase it this way.

So I don't give a fuck.

What other people think it serves
me really well since 2015, when I

became self-employed, after being
laid off from my corporate job.

I'll go through some of the
major benefits about this trait.

Being self-employed.

So the thing is I spend about half my time
or more as a content creator and marketer.

So not giving a fuck about all
the noise, YouTube comments

and opinions really helps.

If I took every comment seriously,
then I might make bad decisions

based on some unbalanced person.

Who's a little bit hangry.

Hungry and angry.

Of course.

More.

So it just keeps me sane.

Some people get their feelings
hurt by commenters or just

random folks on the internet.

And I might bring them down for days.

I've actually had friends who get a
little depressed when they deal with this.

For me, I find dead even see the comment.

That's how much I don't even check.

Quick sidebar.

I do read a lot, maybe even
most of the comments, just in

case there's a nugget of wisdom.

Even if it's negative, even if it's harsh,
I will take the feedback because I can

reframe it as constructive criticism.

So I say that, but I went to improve.

So occasionally I do take a look.

So not giving a fuck also helps me
in actually creating the content.

For years, I did not feel the
need to cater to the audience.

Although I'd love you guys and gals.

And I also don't cater to the algorithms.

And if you think I'm.

Being hyperbolic here.

You can look at my main channel over
at Doug Cunnington on YouTube and you

can see for a few years, I published.

Smaller shorter videos.

And then at some point I decided
I'm just going to publish long

form interviews, which tend to
not perform very well on YouTube.

At least for me.

And that's been fine.

So I was like, I'm not going to
cater to the algorithm because

that'll force me to burn out.

So sure.

Occasionally I do create content for
both the audience or the algorithm,

but I don't feel obligated to do it.

I just do it occasionally.

I kind of see if I can.

So it's more of like, Hey, do
I have the skills to do this?

I.

Say I have the skills can actually do it.

And I tested out to see.

Okay.

So I have clearly established the
positive part of the strength.

Here are a few of the downsides of.

Not giving a fuck.

Number one at my old job.

I really didn't care that much.

And this was my old real deal
management consulting job.

It was a good gig.

And people take it very seriously.

They are professionals out there.

But I, I didn't really
didn't care that much.

And unfortunately it kind of came through.

Probably leading to my layoff.

Number two.

If I got another job, like these
days, I would need a serious attitude

adjustment, or at least a job.

That C's not giving a fuck as an asset.

Which if you're an employee, it
usually doesn't play that well.

So luckily I don't plan
on having another job.

Working for someone else, period.

Hard.

End of sentence.

There.

Number three.

Currently I can run
ads for some companies.

I don't have any exclusive
deals or anything.

But occasionally I do run these ads.

The thing is because I
don't care that much.

I've said some negative things
about companies or products or

services based on what I've seen.

And it's very honest.

And of course that does bring
credibility, but it can impact revenue.

And I think.

A lot of creators on YouTube.

They end up in a place where they're
in the back pocket of too many

companies and it's their livelihood.

And then they censor themselves,
whether it's intentionally or not.

But this really gives me a
lot of credibility and I think

it makes it more authentic.

And just overall, honestly, it's easier to
do because I don't have to tread lightly.

I'm not like a bull in a China
shop, but I don't feel the

need to censor what I'm saying.

Number four that covers the
major professional implications,

but on a personal level.

This can get in the way.

So generally I'm pretty nice
and I'm pretty generous.

Especially with my immediate family
and my wife and my friends, but

I think I might get some friction
with secondary level relationships.

So keep this between us, but if my
in-laws had some strong opinions that

I didn't agree with, I might shrug
it off and we'll leave it at that.

But I think you get the point,
you know, my, my friends.

My immediate family, my wife.

Georgie that like, those are
like the core pieces here.

But it can present some problems
if I'm like, I don't care.

People don't really want to hear that.

So to wrap all this up, it's about finding
the sweet spot and being self-aware.

So like I said, I don't give a fuck.

But I am self-aware that, that doesn't
land well in certain environments.

So sometimes I have to keep it internal.

The takeaway for you is to
keep an eye on your strengths.

I mean, it's very valuable
to understand your strengths.

To go hard on the strength, lean into it.

Even exploit those strings.

But they probably should
have some boundaries.

And you should be self-aware of those
boundaries so that your strengths

don't start to work against you.

Should be open to feedback,
thinking about how your actions.

Impact those around you and being
cool with changing things up.

So that you can ensure your
strength, stay your superpowers.

And now your kryptonite.

Full disclosure.

I think Chad GBT wrote that last line.

That doesn't sound like
something I'd say, huh?

All right, that wraps
up this solo episode.

Please let me know what you
think of the shorter episodes.

If you're over on
YouTube, leave a comment.

You could say.

These are great.

These suck.

I'll probably see it.

Maybe.

I don't know, but the algorithm sees it.

I know that for sure.

And if you're listening on the
audio side, that kicks ass.

Make sure you shoot me an email
feedback@reikirevolution.com

and let me know what you think.