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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Spicing Up The Cubicle Life

The majority of us who are working in the corporate world spend 8 (or often more) hours every day sitting at our cubicles! That’s one-third of our day, the other third of which we spend sleeping. And we often wonder, “Can I leave my cube, or will my boss think I’m slacking?” or “If I leave my cube, will I miss something important?” Well, chances are that if something is really THAT important and needs urgent attention, the person who needs you will find a way to get a hold of you. So let go of the mentality that you constantly have to be at your cubicle, and start finding a way to improve your work life balance.

We all can work on finding a better balance to our work day — making sure we get all of our work done effectively and efficiently, while also making sure to keep our mental health in check. Here are a few tips I can give you, based on my experiences, which have really helped me improve the quality of my work day:

1. Enjoy the outdoors: Stepping away from your cubicle and into the great outdoors will allow you to clear your mind and make room for good thoughts. Whether you have a large park near your workplace, a shady tree, or even a small patch of grass, fresh air will surely bring you energy, happiness, and a positive perspective. You can take 10 minute walking breaks every couple of hours, meditate, or just sit outside for a bit. Being outside will provide you with a much-needed release from the often stuffy, cluttered, and overwhelming cubicle and office environment.

2. Eat lunch away from your desk: Your lunch hour is the perfect time to step away from your desk and clear your head. You can meet up with friends or family at a restaurant, walk over to a nearby cafe, or just eat outside. If you’re running out of time, you can eat at your company’s cafeteria — as long as you get some time away from your desk.

3. Get some much-needed exercise: Although you may feel like you’re taking away from important work projects or deadlines, getting exercise (whether it is at a nearby gym, a jog outside during lunch, or squats at your desk), will actually improve your productivity at work. Working out boosts your body’s endorphin production, bringing you new energy and a focused mind. If your company has a gym, or if you can find a gym near your workplace, that would be optimal. You can go for a short class before work, during lunch, or after work — and shower at the facility in case you need to get back to the office.

4. Cube swag: Cube swag is super important. Your cubicle is basically like your room at home. Would you like your room at home if you had bland walls, dim lights, office supplies everywhere, and unorganized papers? NOPE. Here are a few ideas to enhance your cube swag: First, decorate your cube walls by putting up pictures or quotes that motivate you, posters, a calendar, a clock, etc. Just make sure that whatever you put up will inspire you every day. Also, make sure you keep it professional. No selfies, please. Second, keep it organized. Keep a file cabinet of important files, keep your papers stacked neatly, and keep your desk clean. Having it organized will boost your productivity, and also assure your boss that you are sane and capable of getting the job done.

5. Find your spot: Take a tour of your company. Go to the cafeteria, walk around different buildings, and survey your surroundings. Chances are you will find a space that particularly appeals to you — you can bring your computer and do your work there. Sometimes, we find that certain places get our juices flowing, increasing our productivity and improving our mood.

I hope I was able to provide you with some tips to spice up your cubicle work life. If you have any other tips or suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below!

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Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail

Every new year, you will see your Facebook friends “checking-in” at the gym, posting pictures of the salad they had for lunch on Instagram, and tweeting every single step they took that day. That’s because each new year, we all want to start fresh. We want to learn from the mistakes we made the previous year. Everyone wants, and needs, a fresh start. The problem is how we all go about doing it.

New year’s resolutions are destined to fail, unless you frame them right. When you make a bold claim like “I want to get really fit, and go to the gym everyday” or “I want to find my passion”, you set yourself up for an unrealistic goal. Or when you make a list of 5 resolutions for the year rather than focus on 1, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to make them all happen.

Why new year’s resolutions fail — in a nutshell:

1. Scattered or vague goals: The less specific your goal is, the more likely you will fail (this has been statistically and scientifically proven). If it is vague, it is easier to make excuses to not achieve it. But if you make it more detailed, you will know exactly what you need to do everyday to make your goal a reality. For instance, if my goal is to “get fit”, this is an entirely impossible task I have set out for myself. There are about 1,000,000 steps I need to take (literally) before I can achieve that. If I make this goal more detailed, such as “walking my dog every morning to get my heart rate up”, I will know the exact actions I need to take everyday to make my goal possible.

To help myself even further, I can break my resolution up into mini-goals, like taking 5,000 steps a day or taking a spin class 3 times a week. Breaking your resolution up into mini-goals as well as adding specificity makes it more actionable, achievable, and honestly less intimidating for yourself. A good new year’s resolution would be to “incorporate more fruit and vegetables into your diet” vs. “to get healthy” or to “bike to work” vs. “to get fit”. These are tangible and specific goals that you can achieve everyday.

2. Too many goals at one time: The more goals you make for yourself, the more your willpower will suffer. How many times have you tried to cut out ALL fatty foods, or tried a juice cleanse, or tried to hit the gym everyday, until you gave up and binged on fatty foods only and gave up on the gym completely? This happens way too frequently, and it’s because we use an all-or-nothing mentality. Either I’m eating healthy AND exercising, or I’m not doing either. Either I’m eating healthy all day or I’m not at all. Either I accomplish going to the gym everyday, eating healthy, and walking more, or I don’t do either.

The problem with the all-or-nothing mentality is that as soon as you make one “mistake”, you are done for good. This is the real issue with setting too many goals — it perpetuates this all-or-nothing mentality. There is also a chain reaction associated with this mentality. When you break one, you are more likely to break all. A good way to avoid falling into this trap is to focus on one resolution, and break it up into mini-goals or steps if you wish, rather than making 5 resolutions. You can always add onto this list later if you please.

3. Why the hell not: We put so much pressure on ourselves every new year to achieve these new year’s resolutions — we post about them on every social media platform imaginable, and we tell all of our friends and family members. Don’t get me wrong, these are great motivators, but they also put every action you take under a microscope, becoming gossip that everybody’s talking about rather than a goal you are pursuing for yourself. Humans are interesting creatures in that humans like to see other humans fail.

As soon as you “fail”, you feel guilt and shame. Compare this guilt and shame to that of an addict. The worse an addict feels about a minor relapse, the more likely it will turn into a major relapse. I like to call this the “why the hell not method”. If you decide to stop smoking cigarettes for the new year, and you relapse and smoke one, this one setback turns into a storm of setbacks. “Should I smoke another cigarette?” … “Why the hell not, I already messed up.”

This ties back to the all-or-nothing mentality, making you feel ashamed and guilty. This is why new year’s resolutions are often not achieved — because we make ourselves strive for perfection. But no one is perfect. It’s OK to not be perfect, and it’s OK to have small setbacks or deviations in your journey. That’s why it’s called a journey – there are many roads — some bumpy, some curvy, some completely unpaved, but in the end, you will reach your destination if you just keep moving forward.

If you’re reading this, please do yourself a favor. Take the list of new year’s resolutions you made for yourself and light it on fire (ok, it doesn’t have to be THAT dramatic). Look at the goals you have written for yourself and see if you can prioritize which resolution is most important to you. Now, make it specific. How do you want to get fit? For how long do you want to study each day? In what ways do you want to be more organized?

Also, look at the why. Why do you want to achieve this goal? If the reason has to do with someone else, like losing weight for your boyfriend or getting a reputable job for your parents, then burn the page (you can actually do it this time). Any resolution that has to do with someone else is NOT a good motivator. At the end of the day, you want this goal to be for yourself — to achieve true satisfaction in your body, in your mind, and in your heart.

You can now let out a big sigh of relief — the pressure of achieving your nearly impossible new year’s resolution is off your shoulders. Instead, let’s take this new year and focus on becoming better versions of ourselves, for ourselves. We can do it!

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Don’t Give in to Portion Distortion!

In today’s world, portion sizes have increased immensely, becoming extremely unhealthy, compared to what they used to be. According to this fitness blog, Dr. Lisa R. Young, a nutritionist and author, explains that “portion sizes today are 2-5 times bigger than they were in the past”.

Portion control has never been more crucial than it is today, especially due to America’s obesity epidemic. Because us young professionals are constantly working and have no time to analyze food options or portion sizes, we must educate ourselves about what portions are the right portions for us.

The fitness blog I sited above is a great place to start, illustrating how portion sizes have changed, and the reason behind this change. The blog makes a great point, as we “rely on restaurants and pre-packaged foods to give the proper serving sizes, and often get much more food than we need”.

The truth about HEALTHY portion sizes:

1. Make half of your plate fruit and/or vegetables: For example, if you are ordering at a restaurant, ask for a side salad as opposed to french fries.

2. Make one-quarter of your plate protein: The healthiest serving size is 3 ounces. To help remember this, look at the palm of your hand, and this should be the size of your protein serving. This can be fish, beef, chicken, turkey burger etc. There are plenty of options!

3. Make one-quarter of your plate healthy grains: This can be one slice of whole wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, or 1/2 a cup of pasta.

Take these tips with you to work when eating lunch, or save them for when you come home and prepare yourself a healthy dinner. For a more in-depth understanding of portion control, I recommend reading The Portion Teller, a book written by Dr. Lisa R. Young.

Best of luck with your portion control!