How do you respond when you feel awkward about someone being impressed by you?

<p>Towards the end of this conversation I wondered what it might be like if you just said, “I feel awkward” in an “aww shucks” kind of way when someone complimented you.</p> <p> </p> <p>Well, I tried it and it was a fail. The person who complimented me then went on for a full minute about why it was reasonable for her to be impressed by me. Then I felt even more awkward so I just said thank you and that is kind and tried to move the conversation along.</p> <p> </p> <p>In this conversation Brooke Miles started us off by sharing there are two reasons we feel awkward when someone is impressed by us. Either we don’t believe them or we know they are right but want to try to be humble.</p> <p> </p> <p>Todd Karges shared that he has struggled with negative self-talk and that makes it hard to believe someone when they are impressed with you. He also thought about it from the other side – thinking about times he has complimented someone and felt like it was rebuffed.</p> <p> </p> <p>Stewart Wiggins brought up that we are taught by our culture not to be too full of ourselves, not to pat ourselves on the back.</p> <p> </p> <p>(Which reminded me of one of my brothers who as a teenager would reply to any compliment by saying, “I know.”)</p> <p> </p> <p>I wonder what would happen if I said something like, “I am not very good at accepting compliments, but thank you.” Maybe I will try that next time.</p> <p> </p> <p>At the very last moment Stewart asked an interesting question – why do compliments from someone we know well or even love land differently (better?) than compliments from a stranger?</p> <p> </p> <p>What do you do with the awkwardness when someone is impressed by you? We would love to hear it in the comments.</p> <p> </p> <p>Connect with the panelists: Todd Karges: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkarges/</p> <p>Has a background in project management and building agile development mindsets.  He is a transformation and change management practitioner and a leadership development coach.</p> <p> </p> <p>Stewart Wiggins: h