Career Tips from Rumpelstiltskin

Have you heard the rumors? Disney might be working on a Rumpelstiltskin adaptation! While it's unsure if the rumors are true, Rumpelstiltskin is still a worthwhile fairytale character. His career is a cautionary tale of what can happen when you get it all the wrong way and lose everything again just as quickly.

From the guy with the ultimate career disaster, here are some tips to avoid having the same happen to you!

Tip #1 - Don't sell yourself short.

The one thing Rumpelstiltskin did right was not selling himself short. He knew that his ability to spin straw into gold was worth a lot and he asked for what he wanted right off of the bat - a lovely necklace, a beautiful ring, an unborn child...

Okay. That last one might have been a bit of a stretch.

But still. When you're negotiating a contract, or even just revising your resume/drafting a cover letter, don't forget that you're the bee's knees!

Tip #2 - Don't gloat.

By dancing gleefully around his fire and gloating, Rumpelstiltskin lost what he had won. And more!

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Don't gloat, because sore winners are disliked as much as sore losers. It's usually not a good idea to make people hate you.

Tip #3 - Be careful about what you put out there.

If Rumpelstiltskin lived in our world and our age of social media, he would probably be a reality TV star - or at least one of those folks who posts way too private info all over the internet without a care in the world.

Don't put anything on the internet that you wouldn't tell a stranger on the street.

Had he been more careful about what he sang out into the open, realizing that once you've said (or written, or posted!) something, it belongs to the public and can be used in ways you wouldn't want (or even be used against you!) he might not have been the big loser in the fairytale.

Tip #4 - Treat others as you want to be treated and be fair!

Rumpelstiltskin wasn't a fair businessman and so the people weren't nice to him either.



Once the tables turned and they won the upper hand, they weren't willing to work something out with Rumpelstiltskin. If he had been nicer in the first place, they might have been nicer to him when he became the vulnerable one!

Tip #5 - Don't lose your temper.

In the more gruesome 1857 revision of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Rumpelstiltskin got so angry and stomped about so forcefully that his right foot went deep into the ground. So deep that he was waist-deep in the earth on his right side (erm...I think the Brothers Grimm needed a refresher course in anatomy and basic physical properties, but I digress). Anyway, he was then so angry about being stuck in the ground that he grabbed his left foot and tore himself in two!

Okay, so that might not happen to you if you get really angry. And okay, I haven't actually seen anyone die of anger. But anger can drive up your blood pressure unhealthily and it can make you make rash decisions. It's best to try to keep your cool when you can!

Are there any fairytale villains that you felt sorry for?

What was your main takeaway from Rumpelstiltskin's story?

Aren't Germans the best at fairytales - yes or absolutely yes?