Happy Monday Canna Fam, wishing you all peace, health, and happiness during these times. This week, I want to touch on a topic that I have spoken about with several fellow industry people. Egos seem to be a huge issue in this cannabis world that we live in, as I am sure it can be in other industries as well. I mean in all reality, how many “I am the best grower” can we really have? There is a problem that comes after thinking you are already the best, and that is the lack of realizing you can always get better. Those that are humble tend to continue to learn and grow (both cannabis and in life). I hope to open up some minds to the possibility of change being good, and I hope to encourage some to attempt to humble themselves, especially at this time in the world.
Ever since I can remember, I had instilled in my brain to “never burn bridges”. This is something I practice to this day because of how important I believe it is. You never know when someone within your network may come up within conversation, and this is still a very small cannabis family that we all are a part of. I have noticed throughout my journeys across the US, with egos, also comes the confidence to talk shit and throw hate on other people’s names. Now in someone with an ego’s defense, I do have a psychology degree, so maybe it is just my therapeutic nature that brings it out, LOL. That was a bad joke. It is a very bad habit that a lot of us have. When a person is quick to share personal business and details about others in a negative way, it makes you question if you can trust that person. Egos are loud, and they are not always kind. Trust me, with the number of people I meet at the events I work, I think I have now met someone at every level of humble to ego there is. You may be surprised to know some of the humblest growers I have the honor of knowing are making their way to the top with this modest mentality. I also strive to stay humble and not to burn bridges. Spreading positivity and love and being open to change and improvement has always served me better.
I posted a quote yesterday that said, “I have no time to battle egos and small minds”, and boy did that hit home. It is a struggle for some to continue to fit in to an industry that is being taken over by the corporate world. For old school growers this was home, and now the culture is less related to the love for the plant and so caught up in egos and men like Dan Bilzerian. GROSS. The great thing is that we have the power to change it, and to make better decisions that can have an impact on a still small industry. Nothing is more annoying than having someone walk up to your booth at a cannabis event for the conversation to go like this, “What are you selling?”, and I go on to start my response to be cut off by the customer and told, “Well I already grow the best”. Now, as much as I love to have someone start a conversation with them on a pedestal, it definitely gets repetitive. Plus, would you be really walking up to start a conversation with me about my products if you weren’t at least a little interested in if they could help make your grow better? Well you want to know the cool thing about me? I am a STONER! I smoke a lot of cannabis, like a lot a lot of cannabis. If you think you are the best, you are more than welcome to prove that fact. But let the cannabis speak for itself, put your egos to the side, and lets get to smoking.
I remember in one of my business classes in college we focused on “how to sell yourself” when going to an interview. I was, and still am, focused on having a positive attitude and being able to make someone feel special within a small interaction so that I could be memorable to them in a positive way. Now, when you choose within a 5 minute interaction with someone to spend it bragging about who you are, and informing them of who isn’t good enough, we now have an ego problem. Trust me, as much as I hate to admit it, I think we have all been there. We all catch ourselves sometimes, and as much as we may tell ourselves we will never be that person, there may be a time you are that person. The thing is it is okay to have a big ego, but recognize it and then do better. I also believe there are people who have naturally big egos, and then those who over compensate for feeling small. I once was in a store after a rough few weeks of life and feeling really down on myself, and they ended up shutting me down and raving about this ONE line that they sold. Instead of taking my failure and gracefully accepting defeat, I randomly turned into someone with zero integrity and chose to make myself look like an idiot and slammed that line. Now trust me when I say, I do not do this. In fact, most of my best buddies in this industry work for my competitors. However, negative vibes are negative vibes, and when you let shit get to you, and you overcompensate for your own downfalls by trying to belittle others, well it is just not a good look. I sucked up my pride in the end, apologized, and I can say that sure as hell hasn’t and won’t be happening again, but in those 5 minutes I managed to make a real ass of myself and it did not feel rewarding.
At the end of the day, I hope we can actively as an industry get better at opening our minds and being kind. If you are one who struggles with your ego, or have been told you have one, try to take a step back and listen to someone wiser. They say if you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room, right? Challenge yourself to try new things, and new methods. Challenge yourself to stop talking about how great YOU are, and maybe see how you can help others. It is the humble growers that I meet along this journey that will forever have a place in my heart and in my life in general. I am proud to say that I continue to learn something new literally every single day. I will never claim to know everything, or be the best, but I sure as hell am going to consistently give my best effort and hope to remain humble as fuck in the process.
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