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Going Outside the Norm to Find Your True Career and Life Passions
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Performing a job to make enough money to buy a house that is too big, a car that is too fancy, or just to truly enjoy that much-deserved vacation to Hawaii. All of us make money for different reasons. What many of us also have in common is that making money is sometimes more important than the passion we have for our current job or career. We have all been there.
Why can’t we have a job that we love and make the amount money we need at the same time? Well, you know what: Understanding our personal brands can help all of us achieve career and life goals.
Confidence = Work or Life Passion
It takes the confidence, determination and passion to understand your personal brand and how to use it to your advantage. I am the first one to admit that my life confidence wavers sometimes. As a person who grew up with a physical disability (Cerebral Palsy), I was relentlessly teased by kids because of my differences. Even being very successful at nearly age 50, some of those scars can still rear their ugly marks and cause me to periodically lose my confidence in some situations.
No matter the issues we face everyday, however, all of us need to take hold of our careers (and life) confidently or we will not succeed in finding the “sweet spot” of happiness/passion.
For me, the key to my personal brand success is to find interesting opportunities that I can be truly passionate about – writing, motivational speaking, resiliency training, leading corporate communications teams, etc., etc.
Sometimes, it is easier said than done. As you assess your personal brand, please think through the following suggestions and try to apply each to your work (or even personal) situation. What is your key?
Having Confidence To Do What You Really Want?
Personal branding truly means having consistent confidence in yourself. Take a few minutes and write down your countless career (and life) successes. Then look at the successful ways you have pulled through other situations that have affected your lives.
When I’ve had challenges with my physical disability, career and/or life, I have found the most important key is to have trust in myself. This unyielding confidence has helped me overcome and succeed beyond my wildest dreams whether I have smacked my head against a granite floor after tripping, or having a huge success with a work situation. What do you really want in your career and life?
Facing Issues Great and Small
All of us have had our obstacles in life - great and small – that we face everyday. They can truly affect the confidence in ourselves and mask the passions we have in our work or personal lives.
To help maintain your resilience, here are a few of successful confidence strategies that you may want to apply to your everyday needs.
Try at least one strategy soon to help stay resilient and confident. Because remember: Your most important personal brand asset is you.
Finding one positive about yourself each day. O.K., all of us are not positive about ourselves all the time. We’d have to be robotic and programmed. But, every day, try to find at least one thing you did very well the previous day. This may be helping a valued colleague network to find a better job, knowing you treated your son or daughter fairly in a conversation about improving grades, or (simply) acknowledging you did top-notch work on a job assignment. Finding your “spot on” moment of the day may help you rekindle or redefine the passions you have for life or work. What is one simple or complex action yesterday that you felt confident about in your life?
Stop sweating the small stuff. Something that can impede your work or life passions is sweating the daily small stuff that may lead you to lose a bit of confidence. Whether that may be worrying you are a couple minutes late for a meeting, not getting one of your Top Five list of things done as promised, or forgetting to pet your wonderful pets as you leave for work. While all of us need to stay organized, fretting about every daily event can seriously impede the passion for liking your job or ability to like yourself.
Developing an effective personal brand also means knowing what you can truly control. A national study once highlighted that most of us worry about the nine out of 10 things out of our control in life. Without focusing on the items within your control, you will not get mission-critical tasks accomplished and people will see you in a lesser light. What small stuff will you try to avoid to keep your confidence on the right level each day?
Liking Yourself. All of us make mistakes we regret, don’t always see possibilities when they are in front of us, or are just having a bad hair day. Maintaining a consistent personal brand does not mean that we need to be perfect.
No matter what happens, though, always remember what is truly important in life - loving your significant other, teaching your kids the values they will carry throughout life, or just talking with great friends you have known for so many years.
Such examples are keys to being passionate, happy, successful, or just getting past certain times where you don’t see yourself in the best light. By remembering this, you will continue to build your personal brand and determine your true work and life passions. What do you like about yourself?
Your Success Depends…
Career experts suggest we think through such life and career questions to help maintain the right amount of confidence in all parts of our lives. There will always be days where your confidence wanes and your resiliency disappears.
But just remember the love and emotional value of your family and friends, and the good that you do at work and throughout your life. Your personal brand depends on it!
A famous philosopher once said: “Maintaining one’s confidence and finding your true passions are ultimately the gift of liking yourself no matter what external factors get in the way.”
Especially at work, finding your niche or passion may help you stay happy and successful in a job - while making enough money to enjoy the important things life. Knowing this will help you define your “spot on” personal brand that can increase your resiliency in so many positive ways.
So, what is your passion or niche?
You may also want to check out my award-nominated blog for additional resiliency and personal branding articles - http://resiliencyfirst.com.
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