I’ve talked about Personal Branding or hinted at it in almost every post I’ve written and I was trying to understand why I keep coming back to the it. What makes Personal Branding a key driver in all my discussions? So I revisited all my previous posts that were essentially about Personal Branding to see if anything common stood out – below is a quick reference list in case you’d like to build you’re own analysis:
- The Fall of CVs & the Rise of Personal Branding
- Personal Branding vs. Reputation Management
- Personal Branding – A Full time Lifetime Job
- Personal Branding – Your Avatar is Important, Stick to It
- Personal Branding is for YOU
- Personal Branding – It’s All About Humbleness
- Personal Branding – Once You Pop, You can’t Stop
- Personal Branding – The 10 Commandments
- Personal Branding – The Essence of Trust
- Personal Branding – The Art of Giving
- You Are Immortal – Take Control of Your Legacy
As you can see, the list is long, and it’s only going to get longer. Some might say, it’s an obsession, or an ego trip. I promise you it’s not, it’s far from being so. The post today will highlight my findings about my so-called obsession.
The acronym that best describes my personal branding effort is non other than LIFE: Learn, Inspire, Fight, and Excel.
Learn
Don’t stop learning. He who claims to know it all, actually knows nothing. Learn from the lives of others, from your experiences and from theirs … learn from everyone your children, friends, students, teachers, colleagues, parents, strangers, loved ones … a day gone by without a new lesson, is a day wasted!
Inspire
You might not know it, but someone, somewhere looks up to you – you are their inspiration … you have the power to move people, to inspire action – it is your responsibility to deliver! Some inspire through singing, others through writings .. some paint, some dance, some create … we all inspire i our own unique way!
Fight
Easy come, easy go – this is what i was brought up to believe. We should fight for our dreams, we can’t expect them to be delivered to us on a silver platter. Fight for what you believe in … you might be laughed at, ridiculed, tempted but never let that stop you from your passion. trust me, it’s worth the fight, and it will pay off one day … the keys to a great fight are strategy and patience.
Excel
Notice that I didn’t refer to excellence (as the objective), but the action to excel. YES – excel is a verb you should be using more often in your personal brand – people who aim low, score a direct hit, so aim high, aim to excel … I used to tell my students in class at the beginning of every semester, you all have an A, it’s you responsibility to keep it … this pushed them to work twice as hard! this pushed them to excel …
In my previous post, i referred to the missing link between Knowledge and Power – ACTION! Here are four LIFE-actions to move your Personal Brand from knowledge to power!
Think About It!
I cannot agree more with you on this one.
Learn — is a non-stop daily pleasure. And learning is so much more accessible now.
Inspire — one can only hope to inspire.
Fight — when do we stop! It’s an ongoing battle.
Excel — and always try to be and do the best you can.
The story of my LIFE! 🙂
Thank you, John. You always inspire. What especially motivates is your reminder to excel.
All the best,
Jason Sibert
Love your LIFE acronym and love your ideas on branding. We all have a “personal brand” offline, too, whether we know it or have tried to define it. It’s “Who” we are and the essence of the message we deliver consistently.
The power comes in defining it consciously and then making sure our message is consistent!
EXPECT Success!
Jackie Ulmer
John – You continue to Rock My World! This is a great post. I’ve found such value in your words and encouragement. People think because you’re a social media shaker you can’t share other people’s great ideas. I think however, that its our responsibility to find the best of the best and help them find an audience as well. Part of being a thought leader is recognizing the genius in others. I see that in you and am glad we found each other!
How should one go about summarizing their own branding effort, or to discern their brand DNA?
Thanks a very good question Yasser. Well I would recommend two tools to get you started with unearthing your brand:
– Personal Brand Assessment Tool designed by William Arruda
– Personal SWOT Analysis
I’ve talked about them in details in a later post “You Only Get One Shot!”
It has links and template for you to make use of.
I would also recommend if you want to step it up a notch to consider signing up for the Personal Passion Formula training – That offers you 5 Video Training Modules, 5 LIVE Group Coaching Calls, the Mind Bytes Video Series, and INSTANT access to the PPF online community! I’m presenting one of the modules on branding. Have a look for yourself
Hope this helps!