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The beautiful white blankets of January have melted and darkened until only slush and mud remain. But Spring has arrived! I know it because daffodils never bloom in winter and rain beats on my window instead of flickering snowflakes.
In a celebration of the changing season, I made an open request on Twitter for a few Springtime memories. The submissions are listed below for your enjoyment.
There are cries of delight coming from Austin, Texas, about how inspirational and noteworthy Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk was.
Quotes about delegating things you don’t love and living life with passion are flying around Twitter like dark-eyed Junco’s hustling for sunflower seeds.
Six months from now, 90% of you will have settled back into your dead end jobs and mundane lives. You will have almost entirely forgotten the thrill you got from hearing the fast-talking Belarusian swear on stage.
Gary Vaynerchuk cannot help you bring about real changes in your life. Not even if he slept on your couch and pushed you in an epic “Biggest Loser/The Apprentice” countdown. Why? Because real change starts with a recognition of deficiency and a no-holds-barred desire to improve.
When you think of inspiration as a seed instead of a solution, it becomes easier to avoid unrealistic expectations and subsequent disappointment. Grab what you can from Gary’s talk and bring it home. Plant it with enthusiasm, water it with determination, and prune it with an eye for the final product.
If you feel inspired by something Gary or anybody else says, make a point to act upon it immediately. Seeds of inspiration left out in the hot sun of time rarely develop into vibrant concepts. I’m not telling you to make wildly rash decisions…just mildly rash ones. =)
Three quick steps to help you plant inspiration:
- Immediately write down the things you’d like to change and what the biggest obstacles to those changes are.
- Call your craziest friend and talk to them about your ideas. Write down all the additional ideas you come up with.
- Email the list of ideas to your most logical friend who knows you well and ask your friend to go over your list and make suggestions the following day.
When you wake up the next day, the rush will be over. You’ll be able to take a clear look at your list of ideas and move forward with the ones that still make sense. If nothing on your list still seems like a good idea, don’t worry. Sometimes it takes a few tries for seeds to take root. In the meantime, you’ll have connected with two friends and made real progress by recognizing a need for change in your life.
Happy planting!
photo by dotdean
With more hair gel and left turns than you can possibly handle; five steps to building a personal brand from Derek Zoolander.
1. Earth to you! It’s time to get a grip on how others see you.
“I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking ‘wow, you’re ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career’.”
We’ve all made a facial expression only to have it completely misunderstood by the person who saw the expression. Closing the gap between how we try to be seen and how others truly see us is at the heart of personal branding. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that personal branding is just another way for people to talk about themselves. That’s not the case. Personal branding starts with an honest evaluation of how one is perceived by others (reputation). Those perceptions are then examined to learn how they match up with features of one’s professional skill set (brand). For example, my friend has a reputation for her kindness while her ability to coordinate events is a skill that forms part of her personal brand.
2. Understand stereotypytypes and where you’re F-A-Y-L-I-N-G.
“I’m sorry that good-looking people like us made you throw up and feel bad about yourself.”
Personal branding is a bit more complex for knowledge workers because parts of their reputation (like being honest) are closely tied to what sets them apart as professionals (having great ideas, etc). To find out where you stand with your personal brand, just ask an outspoken coworker and a supervisor from a previous job to write down what they see as your primary strengths and weaknesses. Take these reviews and combine them with what you know of stereotypes surrounding your professional role. When you have an idea of how others percieve you, you’re in a good position to pinpoint your personal branding failures and move forward, sideways, and do a flip at the end of the runway.
3. Make a step-by-step-by-step plan to improve your personal brand step-by-step.
“You gotta tame the beast before you let it out of its cage.”
Now that you’ve done some research and put some thought into your personal brand, it’s time to start closing the gap between how others see you and how you’d like to be seen. Like clarifying butter before using it in a recipe so you get perfect butter flavor, it’s time for you to strain all the distasteful bits out of your personal brand. For example, if you work in advertising, your coworker and previous boss might have sustained some stereotypes and said that you’re a great person source for creative ideas. They may have also said that you have trouble with execution of those ideas, have poor response time, and are badly organized. Write down a plan as to how you’ll go about improving in each area of weakness. Boil your personal brand down to 5 simple phrases and work to make them true when applied to you. (“I am organized”, etc.) If you need help, ask for help, Dumbo! You don’t get to be a world-class male model just by being really, really, ridiculously good-looking and you won’t build a strong personal brand without a buttload of effort and help from other smart people either.
4. It’s not enough to be very, very, ridiculously good at just one thing.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.”
Once you’ve clarified your brand butter and have a strong personal brand that isn’t clouded by any needless faults, it’s probably time you started looking to expand. The wonderful thing about a clarified personal brand is that you are not limited to a specific job. You can use your personal brand (In this case, well-executed creative ideas, organized, prompt and excellent communicator) as a runway from which you can promote many different projects. When you are known for aspects of your personal brand instead of just your “job” (creative vs. advertising exec), an exciting world of opportunity awaits you. It’s a bit of a jump to go from male modeling to early childhood education, but even that is possible once you’ve established your personal brand.
5. Unleash your passion and use it to fuel your search for knowledgeabilitty.
You think that you’re too cool for school, but I have a newsflash for you Walter Cronkite… you aren’t.
No matter how massively powerful your personal brand becomes and how much money you make, there will always be somebody younger, faster, and smarter who you can learn from. The moment you think you have nothing left to learn is the very moment your personal brand begins to fail. Make a habit of seeking out people who challenge the way you do things, the way you think, and the freshness of your ideas. Approach even your most ardent foe with a true desire to understand his opinions. You will walk away with a better understanding of the world and how your personal brand fits into it. Nothing, not even an orange mocha frappaccino, tastes better than a lesson well-learned!
Good fortune on your journey, peace be with you, find your center, and all that other karma sutra jazz
photo via web
In your push for success, have you enlisted the help of at least one mentor? I’m not talking about a role model, although a great mentor can be one. A mentor is an accomplished individual you go to for advice, conversation, and guidance on your path to success.
There are three primary mentorship styles:
- The Guide – has walked the same path to success that you wish to take. The Guide helps you move beyond the simple steps of the physical to a place where you can see the entire journey as The Guide does. Many of the how-to books on success are written by The Guide because, of all the mentors, he is best at explaining a journey in its entirety.
- The Critic – has followed a very specific path to success but is most interested in critiquing and helping you improve your current work. Many of The Critic’s understudies feel berated, hated, and singled out for criticism at times. Thick skin and a passion for achieving the best possible results are a must for any upstart hoping to learn a lot from The Critic. When success finally comes and The Critic says “nicely done”, that simple acknowledgement often means as much as the success itself.
- The Cheerleader – is a seemingly inexhaustible source of encouraging words and positive reinforcement. With an eye for helping you achieve your best through hard work and belief in yourself, The Cheerleader often shies away from talking about personal success in favor of discussing your projects. The Cheerleader is most helpful after recent failures when a focus on the positive is the quickest way to get you back on your feet.
One of my mentors, Christoph, was a blend of all three. He took the time and interest to show me, a kid fresh off the farm, how to jump into a project feet-first and come out on top. He took each of my successes and cut away the triumphant glow to reveal how I could improve for the next try. He expected the best from me and when I triumphed he was first in line to celebrate. Instead of handing me a map and telling me to follow it out of the “forest” to success, he taught me to survive as I blazed my own trail.
Christoph died this week at the age of 44.
I cannot bring him back. I cannot magically breathe life into his body and inspire him to continue living with the same words he used years ago to fuel me with hope. I cannot help but wish I’d sent that letter, gone for that visit, or at least made it crystal clear how much I appreciate his influence. It’s so very easy to forget the human fragility of those we deeply admire because they are the strong ones who pick us up when we fall.
I know I forgot.
It’s hard to express how deeply I regret it.
My challenge to you is this: Take a few minutes this week to write a note, send a simple gift, or make a phone call to thank a mentor who has made a difference in your life. Turn a “what if” into an “I’m glad I did” and show some appreciation for the people who helped you get to where you are. You won’t regret it. I promise.
photo credit: g.naharro
