What makes you special? What valuable qualities do you bring to the world? What is your unique contribution? Do these questions make you feel uncomfortable? Don’t be surprised if they do.
From an early age most of us are taught that it’s not nice to boast, and later in life the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ keeps us from wanting to stand out in the crowd. So, instead, we constantly remind ourselves of our own shortcomings, and do our best to blend in.
You are special
And acknowledging it doesn’t mean you think you’re better than everyone else. The fact is, we are all different. Your experiences, your outlook, your sensibilities, your stage of life, all these characteristics combine to create your unique personal brand.
Uncovering your personal brand means getting clear on your best qualities and strengths, embracing what makes you special, and shining your truth to the world. When you live this way, comfortable and confidently expressing your personal brand, you’ll find a new ease with everything. Your personal brand transcends the expectations of others and helps you align the external – how you dress, how you work, how you interact with others – with the internal.
So, let’s get started.
Exercise 1: Your Best Qualities
- Write a list of your 20 best qualities – yes, 20! Turn off that very well practised negative tape and think creatively.
- Narrow this list to five key positive qualities that best represent you.
- Ask three people whose opinion you respect to tell you the five qualities they most love and admire about you. Ask them to provide specific examples.
- Combine your list and their list and finalise your top five qualities.
Exercise 2: Go Deeper
- Choose your favourite drink – it might be champagne or a banana smoothie or a short black.
- Now, role play the drink. That’s right, write down, “I am champagne. I am light and bubbly.” Or, “I am a banana smoothie. I’m nutritious, rich and frothy.” It may feel silly funny, but role playing allows you to express qualities you might otherwise censure. Go with it, and always capture your first response.
- Now look at the qualities you have uncovered. What did you discover?
- Try it with your favourite type of shoes, favourite car, favourite animal…
Inspired by an exercise from Barbara Sher’s book “Wishcraft”.
Exercise 3: Play With Your Personal Brand
- Gather together a large piece of cardboard, scissors, glue and a stack of women’s fashion or general interest magazines.
- Reread your top qualities and hold them in your mind.
- Close your eyes and imagine yourself in an everyday situation – walking into the office, meeting friends for lunch, or visiting your child’s school.
- Choose just one scene and imagine yourself confident, expressing your best qualities, comfortable in how you look and present to others. What are you wearing? How does it feel?
- Now find matching images from your magazine and build your style board.
- Repeat this exercise for different scenes and see what style emerges.
- Take your completed style board to your wardrobe and compare what you have to what you really want. Start fine tuning today!
Inspired by an exercise from Jennifer Louden’s book “Woman’s Comfort Book: A Self-Nurturing Guide for Restoring Balance in Your Life”.
This exercise relates to clothing but your personal brand can (and should) be expressed in everything you are creating in your life – your job, your family, your home.
Play with the possibilities… Share your discoveries in the comments below.
Image by D Sharon Pruitt
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