Bragging Rights

In the movie, Johnny Lingo, Johnny tells that when the women gather and talk, they discuss about how many cows their husband bargained for them. The one whose husband saw fit to give her father the most cows had the bragging rights. In real life, people like to play this same game of one-upsmanship. We all like to stand out and we all like to have a story to tell. There is something about human nature and group dynamics that makes us want to be part of the group and stand out in the crowd at the same time.

Here's an example. I have noticed that when my sweetie gets together with other women the talk will sometimes turn to wedding rings, especially if there is a newly engaged girl in the group. Each woman will have some story to tell that makes their ring unique. One diamond is so big. Another has a special cut to it. The crown on this ring is made of stronger stuff. My sweetheart's stone isn't the biggest, but she got to design the ring and have it custom built by a friend. While each woman is part of the group, each has a unique story to share that is individual to them. If one of the women doesn't have something unique to tell about her ring, she feels left out to a certain extent.

This is not just a girl thing either. The guys do it as well. Next chance you get, listen to guys talk about computers, cars, trucks, power tools, etc. We all love having a story to tell that others find interesting.

Give your sweetie something to brag about. Provide a story that will be interesting to tell in small groups where people like to swap stories. No, the fact that you scored 12,763, 470 points in Pac-man is not something your sweetie will be able to brag about, unless the conversation drifts into "the doofus things my sweetheart has done". One area to have bragging rights is in romantic gestures, keeping in mind not to go overboard: Here some ideas of things you can do to give your sweetheart those important bragging rights:

• Create your own holiday
• Send a bouquet or singing telegram to work
• Ambush Getaway
• When you sweetie needs help, do more than is expected
• Burma Shave signs
• Try your sweetie like a VIP for an evening

That will do to start with. Also, remember that you have talents unique to you. Sharing and exploring those talents can also be the stuff of good tales. While scoring a bazillion points on a video game is not what we are getting at, winning a game tournament is .... ok its still doofus. But competing and doing well are always good for stories and bragging rights. Even competing and not doing well is still better than not having tried at all. The following are a few specific examples, but you have your own talents and will need to adapt these ideas to your own situation. The important idea is to get outside the comfort zone with your talents and share them more publicly than you are used to:

If your talent is ...	Consider something like ...
photography	entering a picture in the county or state fair
singing	publically serenading your sweetie