While mentoring highly accomplished individuals, I started noticing a pattern that I find to be quite valuable. The pattern I’ve seen didn’t come to me in one neat sentence until yesterday morning when I read the Daily Stoic. The entry of the day was titled:
“Respect the past, but be open to the future.”
Past
At the start of our brand-building journey, we look to the past to:
- Confirm our niche and our speciality
- Understand what made us who we are today
- Feel grateful for all that is and all we experienced.
What I witnessed, in most cases, is that when the client readies herself to let go of the past identity, that is when she gets to own and become an active participant in her own brand building.
Future
The transition to the future takes different forms depending on how tightly she is bound to the ‘past’.
At this stage, we can loosen that grip on the past. We look forward to the future – what our brand building activities will bring to our community and us. As part of this process, we can:
- Experience excitement and fear in equal measure
- Open our minds to the possibility
- Let go of the rigidity of what we think we know
- Focus more on Being rather than Doing.
I hope this conveys, somewhat, the feeling that I experienced during this process of recognition. As you can see, the way we get to build our brand isn’t simply to find some fancy graphics to hide behind. Fancy graphics provide false hope. Owning the process builds a rock-solid foundation.
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