What’s Your Personal Brand?

Creating a brand for yourself means creating an image that represents you as a unique individual. To many, this seems like a daunting task. These days, we have a wide array of skills, different personalities that we activate when we are around certain people (you know what I’m talking about), and other unique attributes about us, so we may feel it’s difficult to create a narrowed-down, specific, and differentiated brand. Let’s reflect for a minute, by asking ourselves these questions:

What are you an expert at?

What do people remember most about you?

What is your skill set?

What makes you different?

You may not know the answer to any of these questions yet. But everybody has a personal brand, whether they designed it, or whether it was assigned to them by default. So let’s take control of ourselves and our own images, by crafting strong brands that define our best selves.

The good news is that you don’t have to narrow your brand down to just one attribute about yourself. Your brand can be a multitude of skills, strengths, and personality traits that make you unique and memorable. When I analyze myself and my brand, I think of all of the things that I can offer that make me unique: I am an extremely optimistic person who applies that same optimism to exceed the goals I set for myself, I am a risk-taker who likes to get out of my comfort zone and tackle seemingly impossible problems, I am an active listener while being an engaged and keen advocator, I am eager to learn and receptive to feedback, and I like to find joy and adventure in every life journey. Although we may not realize it, these qualities about ourselves create our brand.

A great tactic to get you brainstorming your personal brand is to consider: What do people say about me when I leave the room?

What people say about you is gathered from the messages and signals that you send to others everyday, whether they are intentional or not. Do you come to meetings late and come to work dressed unprofessionally? This shows people that you don’t respect their time and you don’t respect the work environment around you, making your personal brand a negative one to others.

On the other hand, when you come to a meeting with your presentation prepared, engage your teammates, answer questions comprehensively, and smile throughout your presentation, people will think you are a hardworking, professional, optimistic, and team-oriented person, giving off a positive brand. Most importantly, if what your coworkers think about you and what you think about yourself are aligned, then you have a really strong brand.

You may ask, how do these opinions and assumptions get formed about you by your coworkers? Personal brand is highly dependent on these 5 interrelated elements:

1. Competency: What is the skill set that is unique to you? What do you bring to the table that others may not? In what areas are you an expert?

2. Credibility: What is your background? (i.e. work experience, college major, certifications, coursework). What is your story, and why are you the best person for the job?

3. Consistency: Will you consistently deliver high quality results? Are your determination and work ethic unwavering? Do you take accountability for your actions and the tasks to which you commit?

4. Currency: Do you reciprocate help to others? Do you look to provide help to others first, and do you exchange ideas with those around you to increase collaborative efforts?

5. Communication: Are you honest, open, and transparent? Do you provide constructive feedback? Do you foster a safe, collaborative environment?

Really take a minute to think about the questions posed above. These 5 C’s formulate your personal brand, reputation, and career development opportunities in the future.

But how do you take your unique brand and market it to others around you? A crucial part of creating a strong brand is being your own advocate, by promoting yourself on social media platforms. But be careful what you post: 55% of recruiters have reconsidered a candidate based on what they find on social media, with most (61%) of those double-takes being negative. The best way to be sure you’re promoting yourself in a positive way is to do the headline test, asking yourself: Would my reputation be ruined if the whole world saw what I posted on social media? Make sure what you post is appropriate, improves your reputation, and is professional. You also want to be consistent across your social media platforms, creating a strong brand throughout.

I hope this post got you thinking about your own personal brand. Good luck crafting it!

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Maximizing Your Happiness and Success at Work

We are so busy with work these days. We get used to having a certain routine everyday, and after time, we are afraid to stray off that path. But to maximize your happiness and your overall success at work and in life, you must get out of your comfort zone, work on time management skills, and stay healthy while doing it. Read below to learn more:

1. Get out of your comfort zone: Try something new everyday!

Human beings are afraid of change (this has been scientifically proven). Getting out of your comfort zone by trying something new may seem scary, but this is only at the beginning. Change and lack of familiarity cause these fears to arise in us, however, by practicing something new as often as you can, you will make it a habit and lose that fear. You will start to see the benefits of getting out of your comfort zone as that fear turns into fulfillment and adventure!

Nothing contributes to our happiness more than shattering the delusions to which we cling.

An example of getting out of your comfort zone to try something new could be coming up to someone you’ve never spoken to, and starting a conversation with them. Most people want to meet other people, but are afraid of feeling rejection. If you come up to them and initiate the conversation, they will probably be excited and have a lot to offer to the discussion. People love talking about themselves — so make sure you ask questions about them! You never know who you can meet and who they may know, how they can help you, etc. By getting out of your comfort zone, you have just expanded your network with one conversation!

2. Don’t waste valuable time in meetings

If you work in corporate America, you know how much time can be wasted because of unproductive meetings.

To combat this, prepare ahead of time. If you’re leading the meeting, make sure that all of the meeting participants are on time and are ready to focus in the meeting. It helps when people don’t bring in their electronic devices and when they close their laptops — this ensures that everybody will be engaged and not distracted. Let them know that they can take notes on notebooks, as this is proven to increase retention, memory, and learning.

Another way to combat wasting valuable time in meetings is by keeping them organized and on a time-sensitive schedule. You can do so by making sure to send out an agenda with action items before the meeting, setting specific topics and goals of the meeting in mind before the meeting begins.

Lastly, if you are presenting or in charge of bringing any material to the meeting, make sure that it is open on your computer or email beforehand (such as presentations, emails, or other documents or files) in order to help make easy and fast transitions between presentations and save valuable time!

3. Stay active and healthy

What do most successful people have in common? They are fit and stay in shape. Many studies have discovered the direct correlation that exists between staying in shape and having a successful career. Working out, as well as nutritious eating habits, improve time management, boost mental performance and mental clarity, and improve employee morale, energy, and stress levels.

To stay active, make sure you can fit working out into your schedule. For instance, you can schedule your workouts in the morning by waking up earlier (if you’re a morning person) and going for a walk or jog in the park or around your neighborhood. Working out in the morning will surely give you a huge energy boost that will make you feel rejuvenated throughout the day. If you’re more of a night owl, you can do your exercise in the evening. The key is to find what works for you and do it consistently.

Hope these tips help you feel happier at work, and bring you great success in all of your endeavors!

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CONFIDENCE: It Will Change Your Life!

Each time we face a fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.

This quote inspired my blog post today: gaining strength, courage, and confidence.

Do you look around at confident people and wonder how they were born that way? Newsflash: they were not. Like other skills, practice makes perfect, and there are many steps you can take to become more confident in yourself and your abilities. Whether you want to feel confident for a job interview, a speech you are making in front of your colleagues, or in a fitness class, I have a few tips that may help.

1. Practice Makes Perfect

For those of you who fear giving a presentation or meeting new people, practice is exactly what you need. When you go up to give that presentation or meet that person, nerves tend to get in the way, causing loss of words, jumbled sentences, unnecessary pauses, and a shaky voice. All of these aspects tend to take away from the true knowledge and talent that YOU have to offer. By practicing and repeating your elevator pitch or speech, you will engrain the necessary information in your head so when your mind blanks, that information will still be delivered due to instinct: your body will remember it. Crazy enough, the more you present in front of the mirror, ask yourself practice questions, and study your body language, the more confident and courageous you will feel with what you can offer.

2. Use the Nerves

Nerves exist for a reason. In fact, you just have to know what to do with them to be successful. When you feel nervous, take that feeling and steer it into a helpful direction. Rather than psyching yourself out or doubting yourself, know that feeling nervous is okay, and use it to empower yourself. You can even tell the new person you’re meeting that you are feeling a bit nervous, or your audience members that you get a bit shaky before presentations, and they will sympathize with you. It is only natural to feel that way. Use it to your benefit!

3. Body Language Speaks Wonders

Your body truly portrays your feelings. If you feel nervous, your body will shake, your heart will beat quickly, and you will slouch from a lack of confidence. You can combat all of this by tricking your body, letting your mind do the work. By standing tall with your chin pointed high, people around you will read your body language as though you are a confident, strong, and courageous person – and they will treat you like one. You can trick the people around you and yourself this way, and soon, you will actually feel more comfortable and confident in your abilities.

4. Your Audience Doesn’t Know Anything

Although picturing your audience in their underwear has been a joke for years when it comes to public speaking, picturing your audience as unknowledgeable could be more beneficial. Your audience does not know any of the information that you will be telling them. They are here to learn from YOU and you only. You have their undivided attention, and you are their teacher for the day. They can’t outsmart you or judge you because YOU have all of the information, and it is your job to deliver it. Know that you are in charge of the information, so feel confident with your ability to deliver it.

5. Have FUN!

Why do we feel a lack of confidence? Most of the time, we are afraid of being judged by people. Guess what? We are our toughest critics. Most people don’t notice how much you are psyching yourself out or how hard you are on yourself. They also tend not to notice little nervous quirks that we notice ourselves doing. Last but not least, we care so much about what strangers think of us…but guess what? You will probably never see those people again. So quit caring so much about what they think and live your life!

Don’t let a lack of confidence tear you down. You have all the tools in your toolbox to be a confident, courageous, strong, and successful professional and person. Take these tips, and put them to good use!

Good luck, and go practice!

e

Embarking on a New Life Journey

Hey everyone! It has been a long time since my last update. A lot has been going on in my life since then, so I thought I would update all of you wonderful followers! I graduated from UC San Diego with my Communication Degree and my Business minor, so thank you to everyone who has been supporting me and reading this blog throughout the process. Since graduation, I have done some traveling locally and internationally. I went to Napa, which was absolutely lovely, and I got to go hot air balloon riding. I also went on my first cruise to Alaska and Vancouver. It was so nice to put away all of my technology and just enjoy nature for once. Alaska was serene, peaceful, and beautiful. Vancouver was also a very cool place to explore. They have a thriving business center and a growing population of millennials, so it was great to see some young people around! Hopefully, I will get to travel again soon. My next adventure will probably be in Japan, since one of my best friends is teaching there. Besides traveling, I have mainly been working at a startup company in the Bay Area called Owl Vision, and I have been learning a lot on a professional and personal level.

I have also been going to the Bay Club for my fitness routine, which is what I wanted to talk about with ya’all today!

Although this blog has been focused mainly on health in the corporate world, I thought I would expand to health for adults in general, since this is such a crucial part of life. Don’t worry, I won’t stop writing about health in the workplace, but rather I wanted to approach health in a more holistic sense. Since recently moving back to the Bay Area from San Diego, I have joined the Bay Club Gym, which offers an array of awesome classes to its members. I have discovered a few that I have particularly enjoyed that I wanted to share with ya’all.

The first one is Body Pump. This class will kick your behind into shape. No matter how many times I go to this class, it always ends up beating me up! It focuses on building muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility by working 8 core muscle groups; from back to chest, shoulders to pecs, thighs to glutes, you name it, it will be sore by the end of the workout. Usually these classes are an hour long, so right when you feel like giving up, they will be over (thankfully). Your muscles will feel sore for a week afterward, but it is WORTH IT! Give it a try. You can check out what it’s all about on their official website.

The next class is called Body Combat. This class was created by the same makers of Body Pump, but it is more focused on intense cardiovascular exercises rather than solely muscular exercises. This class teaches you how to punch effectively, defend yourself, and is essentially like kickboxing. It is a fun mix of very energetic and intense cardio and some strength exercises along the way. Your arms will feel like falling off, but it is definitely worth a try. After a few weeks, you will not only feel more fit, but you will feel like you can defend yourself (if you ever need to…hopefully not). Check it out here!

The last class I would recommend for everyone to try is cycling. Now, I know all of you know what cycling is, but these group exercises held by a trained cyclist are so empowering! You can start on beginner level and add a bit of resistance as you go along, but I’m telling you, this is the class that will take your fitness to the next level. Honestly, I am NOT a biker. I have fallen off my bike on numerous occasions and don’t consider myself an advanced biker whatsoever. But these bikes are stationary (thank god), and are for all levels! Not only do you feel so good about yourself during the class, but you walk out of it feeling like a soldier. Soon, I may start to work on my cycling certification to become a spin instructor, but I need to master the art first!

I know people (me included) feel anxiety when they try new things, especially fitness classes, but trust me when I say that NO ONE has 100% mastered these classes. They are constantly evolving with new moves, new techniques, and new instructors, so you are not behind. Just put on your workout gear, and get ready to sweat! You will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Get Moving,

e