“Don’t compromise yourself, honey. You’re all you’ve got.”

Janis Joplin

As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with success.

This is not some longing born out of envy or greed but, rather, an innate curiosity: why are some people more successful than others; or why do some people achieve so much more than others, even in, and perhaps fuelled by, tragic, life-changing circumstances?

Of course, I am not the first to explore such mythology.

One of the first ‘self-help’ gurus to plough this furrow was Napoleon Hill in his fascinating and thought-proving book Think and Grow Rich, first published in 1937. However, it was by no means the first book in this genre: you could try reading The Science of Getting Rich (1910) by Wallace D Wattles, The Master Key System (1912) by Charles Haanel or As a Man Thinketh (1902) by James Allen.

I would be doing such eminent writers a disservice if I tried to distil their life’s work in a blog post but the key message is perhaps best summed up by James Allen:

“He conceives of, mentally builds up, an ideal condition of life; the vision of a wider liberty and a larger scope take possession of him; unrest urges him to action, and he utilizes all his spare time and means, small though they are, to the development of his latent powers and resources.”

It seems far too whimsical to suggest that we merely think something and it manifests; but the corollary of this is that too often we self-sabotage by dint of repeated (negative) auto-suggestion:

“I can’t afford to do that.”

“I would love to follow my passion but it is too risky.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Perhaps it is a British disease but our rather dour, self-loathing approach to life (sack cloth and ashes) means that very often we dare not to commit to elevated, self-congratulatory language for fear of looking stupid or others talking ill of us.

“What a jerk!”

But, actually, the level of investment of knowledge in this genre doesn’t really give us the right to criticise our American “rose tinted glasses” cousins until we have at least tried our hand at thinking more positively and acting on those thoughts.

Yes, I know that actions speak louder than words but our thoughts precede our actions. But it is in the space between (our) thoughts and actions that most of us struggle with.

You might ask what all this has to do with the ‘idea’ of personal branding?

In short, unless we are living out our life in a way that answers to our true calling (what we think about most of the time – success or otherwise), then we are unlikely to live out a full and meaningful life. And that means changing our thoughts about how we are perceived and overcoming the resistance of change.

For me the whole idea of personal branding can be encapsulated in these few words:

“To become what we truly are.”

Neitzsche

Your personal brand should drive your endeavours, whether that is focused on your career or whatever calling you believe will fulfil your potential. For many people they know they have a brand but they don’t think of it as driving forward their work. Many people are living out a personal brand that is perhaps informed, as much, by what other people think – your parents, friends or partner – as who you truly are.

The idea of a personal brand involves coming up with a life plan that is truly congruent with who we are and who we wish to become. It is not about altering the cadence of life, dressing differently, changing your gait or having voice coaching. No it is about aspiring to be the very best of version of you.

How many people do you know who strive every day to live out a life well lived? Too many of us settle for too little and our personal brand is just the outward manifestation of our inward perception.

When it comes to the world of work – something that takes up more of our waking hours than practically everything else – we have resiled from the idea that we might be actively engaged. It seems to be accepted that we are passively engaged or more likely disengaged. But that betrays our innermost feelings. How can you go to work each day contributing an infinitesimally small amount of your talent and feel happy?

Is perception reality? For instance, how many times have you found yourself in a conversation about a colleague where, based on the scantest of information, you come up with an assessment of their character aka their personal brand? The thing is we can’t control what others say about us but we can and should influence how they might think of us, particularly with the on-line tools at our disposal.

Not many of us ever get to find out what people truly think about us but it is important not to be left out in the cold. Like any good corporate brand you shouldn’t leave things to chance. I am not suggesting that you go for ye old focus group, but there is nothing wrong in getting some honest feedback from people on your strengths, opportunities for development and weaknesses.

If you are serious about developing a personal brand then it is important that you align the ‘Who’ [you are] with the ‘What’ [you do and stand for]. Call it congruent action or alignment, but you cannot for any period of time carry on doing something that does not chime with who you are and what you believe in.

I would say it but Brand You works on so many levels.

Just think of some of the most successful people you know. I would wager that very few of them are doing stuff they hate. In fact it would be inconceivable for someone who was putting in 12 hour days, week in, week out, to come home every day and kick the cat and bemoan the lack of fulfilment.

You might think it an alien concept to align professional services with your passion in life – is it really your sine qua non – but that was why I went into law. I wanted to make a difference by helping people. If I thought that my career would be focused on making as much money for the partnership, who were rarely appreciative of the service excellence, then I wouldn’t have entered the world of law.

If you do need to work on your personal brand then you could try Michael Port’s (see Book Yourself Solid) approach. He talks about your personal brand having three component parts:

1. Who and Do What Statement;

2. Why you Do it statement; and

3. Your tagline.

This of course is focused on winning more work but, nevertheless, it gives you a good starting point to understand how a focused personal brand can make all the difference in working with the sort of clients that float your boat.

In addition to the above process it is also important to focus on incremental change. Goal setting is probably the best ‘device’ to move things forward (and doesn’t just apply to Brand You).

As Seth Godin says:

“It’s obvious that goals work and that the only thing holding us back is us.”

In order for goal setting to align with Brand You it is important to include all of the facets of your life and not spend all your time focused on your career. Likewise, if all you do is focus on financial success i.e. I want more clients, then you will quickly find yourself out of whack.

If you haven’t tried goal setting then there is no one right system. But whatever system you use, you have to chose one that enables you to move at a pace that challenges you every day to do better and more (in a smart way) than you did the day before.

It is not a good idea to take on too much.

You might begin with a list that encompasses:

a) What you wish to be;

b) What you wish to have; and

c) What you wish to do.

This exercise, if done properly, is likely to take you at least a week by the time you have cast your net widely, reviewed, added and reconsidered whether what you have written is something you are willing to sweat over for more than a few days.

Once you have got your list, you will then need to think about the areas of your life:

> career

> family

> financial

> spiritual

> physical

> social

You will often find that you end up with one category bursting at the seams whereas others have very few items. It is not a case of making sure they are evenly balanced but very often it gives you a good idea where your energies are likely to be focused.

Once you have decided on a reasonably well balanced list you then need to work out which ones are higher up the order than others.

This is where you might like to stand back for a while and think of your purpose. In other words some message that you would wish others to refer to when they think of you. It may be as short has “S/he cared” but it must be something that defines your brand in the same way as a vision statement would do for a company’s brand or the way you would describe someone who you admired.

Once you have ironed out the bumps, give yourself a set period (21/90 days are the usual milestones) and go to work each day on hitting the stepping stones that take you in the direction of each of your goals. Make sure that each week you review your progress to ensure you are moving in the right direction. If you start small and focus on one thing at a time, it is far more likely that you will achieve the success that you crave. Bite off too much and you will give up and achieve nothing.

At the end of the day creating a memorable brand is not some sticking plaster exercise. It is something that will help you fulfil your potential, be happier and make the most of the opportunities before you. Like any ‘self help’ programme you cannot expect to crack things in a few days. Neither can you force yourself to do something that is out of alignment with who you are, or wish to become.

If you need support for your endeavours, look around you for a role model. It is not pure chance that they have a strong personal brand. They have gone to work on their lives every day, have developed a vision that chimes with their values and they haven’t got bogged down in the daily weeds. If all you do is end up doing it, doing it, doing it then, don’t be surprised, if, in a few years time, you look back with a sense of frustration at how little progress you have made.

Making the most of your personal brand will leave you feeling energised and self-expressed. Of course, like any process it is not a panacea for all of life’s ups and downs, but it sure beats the hell out of making things up as you go along.

But having given it a great deal of thought, I have decided to curtail my blogging and post once a week.

Thanks for all your support.

Here’s to a new journey.

Julian.

Have you ever found yourself frustrated in the face of someone sitting in the proverbial back seat who is intent on telling you what to do, but doesn’t like to grab hold of the steering wheel and take charge?

I have.

Often.

They are also the type of person who avoids all responsibility when the yoghurt hits the fan.

“It’s not my fault.”

Everyone wants to get it right.

And if you make a mistake you don’t want the World and his wife to know.

But, in any endeavour, nothing is achieved by getting it right all the time.

Someone has to be first, and, guess what, they are just as likely to fail as the next person.

Marketing is an obvious example.

Who the hell knows whether your new campaign, that piece of carefully crafted content or that awesome video is going to result in new or any business?

Yes, you might have a track record of success, but, in most cases, you won’t have enough data or market intelligence to predict the Return on Investment (ROI).

In professional practice too often the (make that ALL) p-a-r-t-n-e-r-s think they know best. Is it any wonder that most firms of a certain size have opted for an executive committee to reduce the friction in making decisions?

But even said committee will have to regularly deal with the hot breath of one partner or another who takes issues with their decision-making.

“Damn they are at it again.”

I am not advocating a system where certain (non status) partners should be ‘seen and not heard’ but firms need to get much smarter at the way they make their decisions: strategic, operational and tactical.

You will often hear the poor old Managing Partner refer to his/her fellow partners as feral beasts. And yes there is a delicate balance to be struck between autocracy and chaos management, but there is no point having a system where one group has been entrusted to make the majority of decisions only to be confronted week in week out with the usual partner Harumph - “I told you so!”

On a grander scale, it is critically important for firms to agree the mission of the firm – “the best firm in [area]“ – and then to trust the executive committee to make the right decisions thereof. If you keep giving ground to the not-so-silent partners then as fast as you make a decision the market will conspire against you, and you will be back where you started.

Even if your firm is not of a size where you have an executive committee, it is beyond doubt that the more people you introduce into the equation the slower and more unwieldy will be the decision-making.

Of course, there is a risk that you breed dissent, but if you keep allowing the broth to be ruined, then you will never gain the traction necessary to fight the market that is moving against you.

Speed is your greatest ally and the quicker you master it, the more likely it is you will survive the storm.

Don’t give into the temptation to please everyone, show leadership and trust to the soup.

you believe in the cause,

but, for all your effort, the hype hasn’t lived up to your expectations

Does this sound familiar?

and for those people who have given up

what do you get?

• a dead Twitter feed;
• a blog that has gone to sleep; and
• a sterile presence.

The love for the game has left you.

You didn’t figure on the effort it took to maintain each and every social media platform.

The need to stay engaged.

And, most of all, wired into the social media universe that has taken hold of your life.

There comes a point where all that effort seems so wasteful (of your time, your life …).

We are conditioned for success.

Determination, perseverance and passion.

and the results are bound to come

But social media is something different.

You talk to yourself.

and some more

And then the engagement comes.

But does it translate?

Does it translate to your goals?

The £.

or whatever it is that you have set your

sights on.

Social media is HARD.

Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

You have to love what you do, and do what you love.

You have to fight every day the voice inside your head that craves attention, and resist the temptation to spam the crap out of people.

The Uber bloggers (Godin et al) have been at it for years, have a string of published works (normally) and have a larger demographic to go after.

You, on the other hand, have decided to go niche.

This means that you have less scope to create the jaw-breaking, novel content that seems the stock in trade of everyone else.

A few tips:

1. Learn how to write like your favourite writer;
2. Get honest feedback;
3. Understand the basics of SEO;
4. Stick to the knitting;
5. Create a comms plan and stick to it;
6. If at first you don’t succeed don’t be afraid to go back to basics; and
7. Follow your instincts and stop copying others.

It may well be that your audience needs persuading of the advantages of social media. Don’t be afraid to call in aid some old fashioned comms channels like email, newsletters and the telephone to get your message out there. Too often you expect to be found – build it and they will come – but it rarely happens that easily.

When the wall comes – as it will – make sure you suck down hard, be prepared to dig in and don’t despair if the numbers are stacked against you.

One note of caution, if you are doing it for the sake of it, then you will quit.

you will!

“If only I had done something more worthwhile.”

They came with a set of instructions, some more detailed than others.

And once you sweated, uttered a few profanities and tested your patience to the limit, you had something that half-resembled the glorious picture you had in your mind.

But they were homogeneous.

They lacked soul.

And

you dare not depart from the script for fear the treasured image would fall apart.

As to social media …

There is no script (yet).

Stop following the herd.

Create something remarkable.

Build a Tribe.

And lead.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[B]eing curious is a mixture of intrigue, fear, longing, passion and love.

How much of your life have you devoted to doing something for the sake of it?

A career?

Same old(ish).

Life is an exploration not painting by numbers.

And once you climb into your comfort blanket, it is hard to escape to another place.

My advice, the moment you feel that you have repeatedly done the same thing for more than 10 days in a row, is the time to get out and explore.

See some new people.

Sit, watch and listen.

And engage.

If you hang around dull people then you shall become dull.

Hang out with some interesting folk, and thou shall become more interesting.

Staying curious is not some box to tick off on a life plan.

It is life.

Or as Steve Jobs said: “Artists always ship.”

1. Create a To Don’t list. Cut down your To Do list to no more than 3 things each day, and do them.

2. Out of the same box, learn when to say no (more often). The wisdom in cubicle land is to keep volunteering for more and more stuff. But being unnecessarily busy merely obscures the devotion to your most important tasks.

3. Learn the art of concentration. It doesn’t come easily but if you can find a place where you can unplug each day for 10 minutes and think of nothing, then you will find it easier to tune out from the noise that distracts you when you try to get into the flow.

4. Delegate. Are you the best person for the job? Bury your ego.

5. Focus on the 20% that produces the 80%.

6. Have fewer clients to look after. You may think this counter-intuitive but if you focus all your efforts on looking out for your (few) clients then, over the long haul, you will be far more productive.

7. Do more of what you enjoy. Does your passion fuel your work, or your work fuel your passion? You decide.

8. Accept that you don’t know everything, and be open, more often, in asking for help.

9. Unplug from the Internet at least once a week. Being on-line all the time is not healthy.

10. Start to listen to your body clock. When are you most excited? Get the big rocks out the way during this period.

11. Hire a coach. You may think you can push through when things get tough – winners never quit and all that stuff – but having someone to talk to will highlight exactly what you need to do to make better use of your time.

12. Buy a copy of Getting Things Done by David Allen or Zen to Done by Leo Babauta. Both are excellent guides to making the most of your time

13. Live by these 12 words: “I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.” I first read about the power of these words in 1988 in Tom Hopkins magnificent work How to Master the Art of Selling Anything.

14. Run one tab at a time on your browser.

15. Invest in a Moleskin or similar organiser and start writing down more of your daily thoughts. Don’t forget to give yourself the space to read what you have written, and to move forward at least one of your ideas.

16. Seek regular feedback on how you are doing.

17. Start your day 30 minutes earlier; and go to bed 30 minutes later.

18. Exercise. You will be amazed the difference 30 minutes of semi-vigorous exercise can make to your well-being and energy levels.

19. Kick your ass once a day. If you find your energy levels dropping or the Resistance starting to chime in on doing something (far) less productive, don’t be afraid to self-talk in extreme language. In the old days, we would just say: “Buck your ideas up.”

20. Change your acquaintances, friends or members of your Tribe. If you hang out with negative people too much, guess what, you too will become negative. This is not a case of associating with those people who are deluded but rather you need to find people whose glass is half full more often than half empty.

21. Watch less television.

22. Read more. As Jim Rohn said: “All leaders are readers.” One book I would recommend is The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Ros Zander

25. Make yourself do the things that you hate. This is a semi-riff on the Zen to Done philosophy but you need to make sure that, just like in an exam, you don’t just do the questions that you can answer. The difference between winners and losers is that winners do the stuff that nobody else likes or wants to do.

26. Get into the habit of rewarding yourself for things done well. But well isn’t everything. It is those things that have made a difference to someone else.

27. Do more stuff (this doesn’t mean volunteering all the time – see 2 above). No, seriously. The more stuff you do, the more stuff you will want to do. This isn’t an excuse for doing junk stuff just to fill your day, but rather the desire to keep pushing through will become a life-changing habit.

28. Don’t worry about who you offend. Stop trying to please everybody. You can’t. Do what you know you have to do, even if that doesn’t make you the most popular kid in town.

29. Hire a virtual assistant. They are worth their weight in gold.

30. Understand your limitations. You can’t be good at everything. Do more of the stuff you are good at rather than constantly rounding out the edges and trying to be all things to all people.

31. Practice the art of strategic MBWA (Managing by Wandering About). The aimless, we need to fill some time, will leave you frustrated.

32. Embrace technology.

33. Start using a timer. Give yourself a limited amount of time to do something. If everything is open-ended then you will find that you work harder and harder for less results.

34. Find a quiet space to work. Open plan is so new age, but when everyone is on the phone, dictating or walking about, it can be very distracting.

35. Meditate. Or if this seems too new age, learn how to breathe and focus just on the breath. One of the greatest teachers in this area is Thich Nhat Hanh.

36. Be yourself. Stop pretending to be someone else. Follow your gut instinct.

37. Have an outcome that is meaningful. Stop focusing on the numbers and think more carefully what you are trying to achieve.

38. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh often.

39. What does success feel like? Spend as much time as you can trying to recreate the sensation of success. More money. More freedom. You decide.

40. Stop trying to be right all the time. If your focus is on shipping you have to let go of the notion that everything you do will be a triumph of success.

41. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

42. What is beyond the AWESOME? Do at least one thing each day that scares you.

43. Map your time. Understand where you are pissing your life away, and resolve to do less of it.

44. Finally, if you haven’t got the answers, don’t be afraid to speak to the people you admire – even the famous ones – and ask them their secret of success.

Any I have missed?

Seth Godin, The Dip

The market is awash with choice.

Is it any wonder that people rush to buy the cheapest or something that is heavily marketed (t.v.).

But what if you set out to be the best?

Perhaps in the past you could have said “the best in the World [as in our World].”

But of course that World has expanded beyond a limited horizon. It could now be the whole world.

When you go to buy something, do you honestly seek out the mediocre or just good enough?

You want the best.

If you don’t know what the best feels like, then you have to create it, not wait for someone to show you the way.

Better service?

For sure.

Better prices?

Of course.

Better people?

What else?

If you don’t push, and push and push some more you will end up swimming in a sea of ‘Ho Hum’, average, we couldn’t give a damn. The money after all keeps flowing in.

Great businesses (including professional service firms) don’t wait for someone else to show them the way.

They create it.

Be brutally honest: Do you have the passion and desire to be the best? If not, find someone who does but make sure you don’t put obstacle after obstacle in their way to stop them achieving their dreams.

When things really heat up, you better be ready.

If not, don’t be surprised to see things disappear before your very eyes.

it symbolises, though, a lot of what we wrestle with every day

stephen covey calls it scripting

but i think it goes deeper than that

we enter the world

we live our life for the moment

and then … the reality of life kicks in

success

a career

living a life

but is it our life we are living?

right now i am wrestling with my programming

but whose programming is it?

mine

my parents

my teachers

my education

my career choices

the medium of law?

at the start of the year, i made a pact with my daemon that i would simplify

and i have done so

but what it has made me realise is how little i know

i have done lots of things but learnt very little (About myself)

MY PAST HAS NOT PREPARED ME FOR MY CURRENT EMOTIONAL STATE

AND CERTAINLY FOR THE PATH AHEAD

i wanted success

a nice car

a nice house

a comfortable life

but what i realise is that connecting to our real self is more important

what we aim for is to explore a life of meaning and to be happy

but very often life becomes meaningless when you get no satisfaction from the things that you thought would make you happy

to be truly happy you have to focus on the impersonal; something that makes a meaningful difference to others (near and far) and not just in the self-fulfilment of our goals

and you have to fulfil your desire to self-express

i am not one to dwell on the past

you won’t hear me utter the words “if only”

if only is weak

we make our luck

persistence, passion and patience are omnipotent

but you need to understand the lacuna that you past has left you with

it’s not just a case of filling it with more knowledge

but rather understanding who you are

bRAND yOU is about making the most of You

it is not about acting out a faux version of you

it may not be helpful but imagine a life devoid of attachment

when you think of your past it requires you to build

and build

until you reach a point of …

… what?

i am not suggesting a life of lack but sometimes it is important to drop the pretence and ask yourself what really makes you happy

me /

music

art

writing

sport

poetry

the outdoors

and great leaders

You /

as much as we would wish to banish our past, we cannot escape it

but it is imporant to recognise when it is holding us back

as i believe is the case for me

i want to make a difference

i want to feel that i have given my best at every turn

and i want to have some fun, make my family proud and be thought of as player

yes, i might be a pain in the arse because i am always pushing against the status quo

but for me it’s about staying curious to the end

and trying to test our resolve in the face of things that frighten us

life on the edge

quite possibly

but at least i can say i lived

i mentioned last week my misgivings about daily blogging

in retrospect it wasn’t the effort it was the message.

i am awash with ideas – helpful ones i hope – but i can’t see the need to cajole, persuade or empower when the valve is shut tight

to learn more you have to be open to change

if your mindset is inward then you need to come to a different paradigm in your own time

and that stage, i will still be here

the future is a sea of opportunity

and a wide blue ocean at that.