Understanding of the phenomenon of life
Self-brand is primarily based and built on one's understanding of the phenomenon of life.
One's 'Strengths & Weaknesses' are the cornerstones of the edifice ‘self-brand’. There'll be no frustration if it's understood in that sense. Self-branding should not have any ulterior motive. The aim is to live a contended life in peaceful co-existence with the society and make it wonderful. Otherwise, it amounts to scheming!
Your ability and willpower to overcome the weaknesses with compassion and empathy at your heart is the prerequisite for the brand-building exercise. Your willingness to compromise and sacrifice can only lead you to a meaningful progress in this mission. Surely it can't be built on your wishes or unrealistic ambitions.
We need to define ourselves not only for our sake but also to the world. When this thinking dawns upon a person, he starts designing a brand for himself. This is nothing but creating a perception in the eyes of the world about one’s style and value.
This is primarily a marketing concept. But self-branding is not restricted to business people and celebrities. Life is not a business with profit motive, and it’s something more than that.
The world always tries to shape up our personality to suit its plans. Consequently, our personality undergoes changes with the jobs, persons and places, lacking direction in life.
While there are discussions and debates about the theory of evolution to understand the phenomenon of life, most of us have no idea about the purpose of our existence.
Possession of wealth and material goods does not reflect the standard of living in a true sense. The measure of this standard is related to income and quality of life. The satisfaction derived by the people from quality of life varies from person to person and it cannot be measured in terms of wealth.
Every person is self-interested in this competitive world. We need to work for our recognition, satisfaction and success individually.
“Every man must work out for himself” - Descartes.
Self-branding seeks to achieve success in a non-controversial and healthy way by adopting the best practices acceptable to the society.
Brand building exercise is the root cause of success of many leaders in all walks of life. The features of the brands are countless. But the common thread of all the features is identity and image of a person.
Apart from the qualities like honesty in relationship, politeness, hardworking, showcasing talents, dressing neatly (perhaps differently), following good practices and following unique styles and manners are also the much talked about features of many brands.
Tim Ferris one of the remarkable brands of our time says in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek “…the perfect job is the one that takes the least time.” If you carefully see, this attitude itself is a feature of the self-brand, ‘Tim Ferris’.
Looking from another angle, if you deduct coffee time, lunch time, gossip time, restroom time and the times spent on so many activities not related to the work, probably it’ll tally with 4 hours in a day, if not week!
Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and M.G. Ramachandran* are all considered successful people in different planes with different backgrounds. The list is indicative and not exhaustive. They have not inherited their businesses or positions from their families. In fact they have all come from a very humble background.
Whether it is business or politics, the common denominator for their successes is comprised of perseverance, self-esteem and confidence. Most importantly they had positive self-image of themselves.
Positive image in society arises out of positive attitude that improves one’s personality.
The similarities in the core qualities are unmistakable in the histories of most of the successful world-class leaders.
*M.G Ramachandran was called by the people as M.G.R. He was an Indian politician and film actor. He was the Chief Minister of the State of Tamil Nadu India for 10 years and remained as Chief Minister till his death in 1987. He had been one of the most influential actors in Tamil Cinema. He was a philanthropist & humanitarian icon of Tamil Nadu.
He was the first politician from cine field to become a Chief Minister of a State.
The Government of India issued a commemorative coin of Rs.100 and Rs. 5 denominations to mark the centenary celebrations of him on 17 January 2017 in Chennai.